Interiordecorati 00 Parsuoft

INTERIOR DECORATION
ITS PRINCIPLES
AND PRACTICE
INTERIOR DECORATION
ITS PRINCIPLES
AND PRACTICE
BY
FRANK ALVAH PARSONS,

PRESIDENT OF
B. S.
NEW TOBK SCHOOL OF
FINE AND APPLIED ART
ILLUSTRATED
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY

GARDEN CITY
1920
NEW YORK
COPYRIGHT
1915
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO MY FRIEND WILLIAM M. ODOM WHOSE LOYAL AND
SYMPATHETIC COOPERATION HAS DONE MUCH TO CRYSTALLIZE ITS CONTENTS
FOREWORD
MUCH confusion
exists at the present
time as to the
modern house. A great deal has been written perhaps more has been said about this This vaguesubject, and still it is vague to most of us. ness is partly because we have not realized fully that a
artistic essentials of a
house
tiful.
but the normal expression of one's intellectual concept of fitness and his aesthetic ideal of what is beauis
The house
is
but the externalized man; himself ex-
pressed in colour, form, line and texture. To be sure, he is usually limited in means, hampered by a contrary and
penurious landlord or by family heirlooms, and often he cannot find just what he wants in the trade; but still the house is his house. It is he, Another reason for this vagueness is the extreme
all deplore this difficulty of parting with traditions. in others reluctance and then embrace our individual
We
traditions the
more
closely.
The
first
we must
dispel
are those concerning art; then we must try to find out what art really is. Another quite as necessary to overcome is the generally accepted idea that one must learn
he knows of colour, form and texture through "feeling." This doctrine has for generations kept the consciousness of thousands of people closed to the simplest
all
principles of the language structure of colour and form. Being free of these misleading traditional beliefs, the
vii
FOREWORD
way is open for learning to do what is not only essential,
but natural.
as strange and inand too mysterious for anything deep comprehensible, but unquestioning admiration and slavish copy. The decorative idea is so completely hidden by the belief
The periods, too, have been treated
in
and admiration for ornamental show, that the Baroque

is
idea
at
the only one generally considered as decorative
all.
These and other misconceptions are the reasons for this book. It is modestly hoped that it may be of service to somebody in pointing out what a house is really for and what it should express. It is designed also to make clear the essential qualities which are the life and soul of
each of the decorative periods in history. More than anything else, perhaps, it attempts to express simply the principles of colour and form harmony in such a way that any one, who desires to, may express
with some degree of confidence his individual ideas. These ideas in terms of colour, form, line and texture
form
of
his ideal of interior decoration.
Each of the illustrations submitted is an expression some particular quality or qualities explained in the captions. The violation of other principles of arrangement in some cases detracts from the perfect unity of the room. Each illustration should be seen from this
point of view also.
viu
CONTENTS
PART
Introduction
I
PAG*
When, Where, and

CHAPTER
How
to Decorate
3
17
L
IL
Colour and Its Relation to the Decorative Idea
The
Principles of
Form and Their
Relation
to
the Decorative Idea

IIL
56
78
.
Balance and
Movement
. .
Iv
Emphasis and Unity

Scale, Motifs
88
and Textures as They Relate to

97
Furnishing and Decorating
PART
VL
H
Which They
117
Styles
Historic Art Periods and the Ideas
Represent
VIL
VHI.
lx
The French Renaissance and the French

The French
and
Styles
of
131
145
The Regency and the Periods
Louis
XV
154
XVI
Styles
The Tudor Period The English

-
...
.
170
180
XI
The Stuart Period and
the
Dutch Influence
CONTENTS
ML The Dutch Anne
XIH.
CHAPTER
PAGE
Influence, or the Period of
Queen
186
The Period
of
Individual
Creation
Chippenother
dale, Hepplewhite, Sheraton,
Adam and
Georgian Types
XIV
-
195
The
Colonial Style
206
PART HI
xv
-
The Modern House The

Individual
225
XVL
XVIL
House
238
Special Suggestions Choice, Framing and Hanging Pictures, Hanging Curtains, Methods of Lighting, Choice of Decorative Objects, General Placement
. . .
Some
.251
275
Index
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Modern Living-room
in a
Country House
Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
The Proper Use

ening and
in Strengthof Beautifying the Architectural Effects of
Decorative Ornament
Stairway and Windows
4
6
The Wrong Use

Doorway Which Ornament
Doorway,
too
of
Ornament Applying Without PurEmphasis by

8
pose or Reason
Illustrates Structural
Illustrating
Over-emphasis of the Top by
Much Ornament
8 8
8
A Console Table, Good in Proportion A Commode

Elevation Sketch of Simple Room in Which the Decorative Idea is Correctly Expressed Historic Room, Illustrating the Principles of Success-
....
10
ful
Wall Decoration and

in the
Consistent,
of Furniture
Structural
Unity
Arrangement
...
12
A Descriptive Colour Chart A Modern Library Whose Walls

ics of
20
and Ceiling are Class24
Their Type A Historic Room in the Style of Louis XVI
....
.
28 28
Historic Room in French Style Elevation Sketch in Black, White and

in
One Colour
32
36
Bedroom
Country Inn Elevation Suggesting Wall and Furniture Treatment for a Simple Dining-room in a Country House Charming Feminine Sitting-room
.
44
48
xi
FACING PAGE
Man's Studio Living-room Arranged to Give the Effect of Simplicity, Quiet and Dignity Throughout Two Areas Equal and Monotonous [page] Two Areas Unrelated and Incomparable [page] Two Areas Subtle, Comparable and Interesting [page]
.
52
75 75
75
Decorative Treatment, Expressing Simplicity, Dignity, Formality and Elegance Elevation Colour Sketch of Dining-Room Which Illustrates Subtle Relationships in Wall Spacing
.
78
80
82
84 84
Elevation Sketch for Young Girl's Bedroom An Italian Chair Whose Lines Create an Opposition
in
...
Movement
Chinese Chippendale Chair with Mixed Line Arrangements Rhythmic Line Movement Found in Contour of Chair
Throughout
Textile, Illustrating
92
Rhythmic Movement Through9% 94 $6
out the Pattern

Side Wall Elevation in Colour, with Excellent Back-
ground Spacings Simple Side Wall Elevation, Expressing Good Scale

Relations
Formal, Bisymmetric Wall Treatment, Illustrating Rest, Formality and Simplicity Hallway and Dining-room in a Suburban House Living-room, Illustrating a Particularly Fine Sense of Scale Relations in Decorative Motifs
.
.
....
.
. .
.
Woman's Sitting-room in Modern Style A Modern Library Living-room An Early Sienese Gothic Madonna and Child
.
An
A
xii
Early Tapestry with the Gothic Spirit and a Decorative Quality Most Apparent Painting Which Shows Plainly the Lingering Traces of Refinement
120
FACING PAGE
A
A
Painting Where the Appeal
of the Saint Is
One
of
Human
Sentiment Later Tapestry in Which the Humanistic Ideal Is

i
.
.
120 120
134 134
Triumphant
Sketch Showing the Early Italian Renaissance . Later Italian Renaissance, Adapted in Lighter Scale to a Modern Hall
.
Early Italian Room, Expressing Restraint and Strength of the Early Masculine Type Early English Room, Expressing a Distinctly Masculine Feeling
138
138
A Beautiful Room in the Period of Louis XV

Sketch for a Modern Drawing-room in Louis
160
164
XV and
.
XVI
An Old
Styles
English Cabinet Whose Material, Size and Structure Express the Qualities of the Elizabethan
176
Period
A Colonial Hall, Expressing the Qualities of Simplicity,

Sincerity and Restraint Suitable Bedroom for Two
.
208 226 226
Boys
Simple Bedroom Suitable for Guest's Chamber in
Country House
A Delightfully Simple Modern Bedroom with Feminine

Touch, Expressing Qualities Essential to Rest and
Sleep
226
228
Man's Bedroom, Expressing Restfulness, Individuality and Masculine Quality Simple Elevation, Suggesting Wall and Furniture Treat. ment for Country Tearoom *
Sketch for Louis
228 230
Modern Dining-room
Dining-room Apartment, Expressing Elegance, Dignity and Refinement Modern Dining-room, Showing the "Georgian and Chippendale Feeling"
in a City
.
XTV
230
232
xiii
FACING PAGE
A Modern Living-room A Modern Library Whose A
.234
Luxurious
Decorative
Charm Lies in Its Unity of Treatment Modern Drawing-room in Which the Furniture shows Good Functional and Structural Arrange-
...
234
ment Bedroom of Marie Antoinette, Little Trianon Bedroom of Louis XIV at Versailles Bed of Queen Elizabeth of England Simple Decorative Choice and Arrangement
terials
...
of
236
236
236 236
Ma238
Suburban House, Expressing Quaintness and a Charm of Decorative Arrangement A Successful Adaptation of the Late Gothic and Renaissance in a Modern City House A Young Man's Bedroom with Backgrounds of Wall Paper and Rug Expressing Restf ulness and Quiet Another Corner of the Same Bedroom
Bedroom
in
238
242
244
....
.
244 252
252
Dining-room Whose Strength Is Its Simplicity, Restfulness, Dignity and Consistency A Modern Feminine Sitting-room, Restrained, Restful through Balance Man's Living-room and Library Showing the Successful Combination of Italian, French and English
. .
A Modern
Materials
254
THE
and
is
very term "interior decoration" is misleading, the cause of much of the bad interpretation of the
it
beauty a primal instinct in man. The personal pride and pleasure one takes in his own house is too generally acknowledged to need comment. If, however, one desires to possess a so-called artistic house, the making of such a house involves an under-
decorative idea for which
stands.
Love
of
and the
desire to create it
is
standing of certain principles. In the first place there are two quite distinct classes with whom one must deal first that of the art connois:
While every seur, or artist collector of antique objects. man of this type is individual, there are principles of
choice and arrangement by which he must be governed, be his taste ever so fine. His room is a personal expression of his taste in the combining of things with different meanings, but it is quite impossible for the rank and file of those who live in ordinary homes to appreciate such an expression. Because of this first class the general public has not grasped the difference between a museum or department-store collection of objects, such as furniture, hangings, carpets, etc., and a room in which to live. Only an artist can be trusted to attempt such house
3
INTERIOR DECORATION
furnishing.
By an
artist I
do not mean a
man who
possesses
paints pictures merely.
mean a man who
the art quality in such a degree that he not only to group art objects in any field,
may
be able,
may have a sensitive appreciation ever combination they may appear.

he
of
them
but also that in what-
The second class includes ninety-five per cent, of all people who use a house, and it is to them in particular
that this book
of
is
given.
We find among these a lack of the remotest conception

what decoration really is, for there are many ways in which this term may be, and is, misapplied. One person
believes that ornament, pattern, or art objects placed anywhere, in any relation one to the other, must be deco-
thing ever so good, it may easily lose its charm through assoAnother person beciation with the wrong things. lieves that the more he buys and crowds his room with
either
rative.
Nothing
is
further from the truth.
Be a
new
or expensive objects, the
more decorative or
decorated it becomes. This, too, is a fallacy. Not only is it not decorative to use too much or too many decorative things, but it prevents any one of the objects from having a decorative effect. Neither these things nor
their cost, neither show, vogue, period, nor sentimental foolishness, are in the least concerned with an expression
of the decorative idea.
Decoration implies,
first of all,
By
this
we mean some
it.
definite
something to decorate. form or arrangement
is to be applied, and a reason for not because I have a room that I applying rush to pile something onto or into it. It is because I need some things in certain places in this room. This
to which decoration
It
is
WHEN, WHERE, AND HOW TO DECORATE

necessitates additions of a certain kind to
make
the
room fulfill its function, and to make it a beautiful unit when it is finished. The room is, first of all, to fulfill
its
function.
This matter of function

art.
is
fundamental
in
any applied
room, exist for use

sirable
The room, and most objects in the The quality of beauty is defirst.
and essential in fulfilling the highest ideal; but however beautiful the objects are, if the functional idea is not adequately and fully carried out, the art from the
standpoint of house furnishing is but one-half expressed. Take, for example, a dining-room. The first question to be asked is: what is the dining-room for- that is,
for what idea does a dining-room stand ? The only sensible answer is: this room exists to eat in, and to eat in
in peace.
Any object found
therein which detracts for
any reason from
this idea is not only a non-essential, but a preventive of the realization of its ideal. When I enter a dining-room I expect to see a table of such size,
proportion, scale, and arrangement as will not only attract my aesthetic sense, but will also bid me sit and
eat in comfort.
quality should be felt in whatever is on the table; also in the chairs, the sideboard, and other accessories essential to this room. If,
The same
however, on entering the room I find as the most prominent thing the embalmed head of an antique deer or a
collection of stuffed birds, or other objects properly belonging to the Museum of Natural History, there is
nothing present in these to bid

so in peace.
realize this functional idea
is
me eat or permit me to do
A still more common and glaring failure to

seen in the inordinate dis-
play of silverware, cut glass, painted dishes, and other indiscriminate acquisitions of family life displayed upon
INTERIOR DECORATION
sideboard, serving table, and plate rack, or even hung upon the walls as decorative objects. Not only is it in
taste to display one's private collections to public gaze, but it suggests in this case that articles designed
for use,
ity, will
bad
and requiring cleanliness as their essential qualneed some personal attention before they can be
placed upon the table, or used elsewhere.

ing a dining-room. If the problem is a bedroom, I ask myself
They
are
neither decorative nor related to the scheme of furnish-
what is the bedroom for, and the answer comes: the bedroom is a place in which to rest and sleep. If this is what the room is for, anything in its furnishing and decoration that interferes materially with these two functions
should be avoided.
sentials for such a
The
toilet articles, etc., in this
bed, dressing-table, chair, sequence, seem to be the es-
Spotted wall papers, floral and the like, create a series of stripes and spots that are not only ugly in their arrangement, but unrestful, undignified, and percarpets, scattered photographs,
room.
plexing in their effect. In the same way, the living-room
is
meant
to live in.
We associate with this room objects which one needs to

have about him for comfort,
personal enjoyment.
use, companionship,
and
The drawing-room offers rather a problem of general use. It is the room in which not only friends but acquaintances and other guests make brief stays for purposes of formal social intercourse. Such things as stimulate conversation, arouse wit, and express one's
general good taste belong in this room. It will be clearly seen that the problems of the dining6
B.
THE WRONG USE OF ORNAMENT APPLYING WITHOUT PURPOSE OR REASON. THE ONLY EXCUSE BEING SHOW.

room, hotel corridor, the general reception room, etc., The dominating idea of function are individual ones. separates one from the other, and renders each case a
problem for special consideration before taking up the

question of decorative arrangement.
In eliminating from rooms already furnished a sufficient number of articles to make a beginning possible, it is necessary to discuss one universal quality. Every one normally made has what he calls a sentiment for certain things. This sentiment is primarily, of course, supposed to apply to persons or their characteristics, but unfortunately it has been allowed to extend to all sorts
of material objects, wedding gifts, family heirlooms, Christmas presents, bargain-sale effects, and other things with which nearly every home is filled. The first error to combat in this field is the one through which the object bequeathed by a relative is confused with the relative himself. Because one's uncle possessed a crayon portrait of himself, or a mahogany table ugly in line,
no
in proportion, and disagreeable in colour, is reason why these inartistic objects should be perpetu-
bad
ated in each generation until the family line is extinct. This same uncle be he ever so perfect in moral,
spiritual,
and even
aesthetic qualities
could not and
would not wish to transfer the qualities of these objects to the consciousness of his descendants simply because,
for
some unknown reason, he used them while he was The mahogany table and its qualities are quite apart from the qualities of the individual, and a person who connects these two or makes them one is not a man
alive.
of sentiment,
but one of sentimentality
another matter.
The same thing is
which is quite true where gifts and

7
INTERIOR DECORATION
other ugly acquired objects are indiscriminately cherThe only possible excuse for keeping such things ished.
about is the lack of money to buy new ones and, even in that case, better nothing at all than bad things where good ones ought to be. Probably the most difficult thing for any person who truly desires an artistic home, is to acquire the courage to put forever out of sight those things which absolutely
prevent the realization of his ideal. The attributes of beauty are perhaps difficult to understand at first, but in subsequent chapters we shall see that the merest novice can be helped to produce this quality if he can grasp the element of function and eliminate sentimentality from his consciousness at the outset.
To
return
now
to the question of decoration
itself,
some very elementary yet vital statements may be made here. Since every applied art object involves two elements use and beauty it is essential that we see these in their relation to each other and in their relation to the
decorative idea.
As has been stated before, with a useful thing, use is paramount. One of the old masters of the Renaissance said: "Decoration must never be applied where use is
sacrificed in its application." To appreciate this is the in first probably step grasping the meaning of the
decorative idea.
How
often do
we
see fruits
and
flowers painted in the centre of a plate upon which must eat anything ranging from soup to dessert.
we
If
these do not appear, fish do, and this complicates the situation considerably. The sofa pillow that muchabused decorative article is not decorative to most 8
A CONSOLE TABLE, GOOD IN PROPORTION, BUT WITH ORNAMENT EXPLOITED FOR ITSELF IN A "CHRISTMAS TREE" ARRANGEMENT DISREGARDING STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONAL CONSIDERATIONS. A COMMODE, BEAUTIFUL IN PROPORTION, WITH ORNAMENT APPLIED IN A TRULY DECORATIVE MANNER, EMPHASIZING STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONAL APPOINTMENTS, HANDLES AND KEYHOLES.
people
if it is
a solid colour or the colour of their divan.
They must display prominently in its centre objects human, animal, vegetable, and sometimes mineral. The carpet and rug, with roses and lilies natural enough to demand respect, are trodden on without the slightest
Flowers feeling as to the fitness of things in materials. appear upon our walls, and into them we drive nails, on
them we hang pictures, and as they glaringly intrude themselves we are forever prevented from using hangings or other fittings decoratively upon them.
This question of applying decoration, it will be seen, not only concerned with the objects mentioned, but with furniture and other art objects when they are intended for use, and the decorative idea interferes in the The same authority has given us least with that use. like this: a statement "Decoration exists to help by
is
emphasize and make structure stronger, and also to add beauty to the object decorated." The first consideration here, it will be seen, is not the decoration, but the structure of the object to be decorated. Take The casing is borfor example the door and its trim. dered on each of its edges by mouldings more or less distinct. They are greater or fewer in number, according to the scale of the door, but always extend in the same direction as the structure of the door; that is, each parallel to the other, with their angles always right These mouldings, following exactly the strucangles. ture of the opening, as well as the door itself, not only call attention by their lines to the opening, but serve to
strengthen or make more emphatic the outline of this opening. At the same time they perform the second function of breaking up the surface of the woodwork
9
INTERIOR DECORATION
This breaking up relieves the monotony of the flat surface, making the casing more interesting and, consequently, more beautiful in most instances than a perfectly flat surface could be made to appear. The chimney piece with its mantel shelf frequently has
casing.
mouldings or simple lines bordering and boundIn this case the moulding becomes a decorative ing idea because it has followed and strengthened the structural appearance, and has, through a modest disclassic
it.
play of variation in surface and arrangement, expressed beauty or the decorative idea. One may readily see how this can be applied to a rug. A plain border, two or three bands, a few simple lines following the edge of the rug conforms to this law and also to the first principle stated, since there is no reason why one should not
step
upon an abstract decorative
line.
this point further illustration is unnecessary, one should test not only these articles each in itself,
At
but but
arrangement as decorative effects in the room. be given here. An English writer has said that the confusion between decoration and ornamentation has led to many abuses of historic ornament. This is just as true of any other ornament seen in its true relation to the subject under treatment. "Decoration," he says, "exists to strengthen structure and make more beautiful the object on which it appears. Ornamentation, on the other hand, exists to exploit itself at the expense of the thing upon which it is applied." This is food for thought. If the ornament becomes the end instead of the means, or in other words, if it becomes apparent as an addition, with the purpose of
their
A helpful suggestion may
sho wing itself

10
it
loses the decorative quality
and savours
W-*SS*sS*s5

of ostentation and, of course, proportionately, of vulIt is well to remember this that in any decoragarity.
tive question, decoration does not exist for itself, but for the thing upon which, or with which, it is used. Another point must be discussed in order that we may
begin at once to see material in its relation to decoration. Pattern or ornament must be adapted to the material in which it is rendered. For example, perfectly natural
flowers cannot be expressed in woollen carpets nor in printed wall papers at so much a roll. Neither can veg-
and flowers be painted on china, glazed and baked, and still be real. Nor is this desirable. It is misapplied effort to attempt to copy nature exactly, and to reproduce all its qualities in anything excepting
etables, birds,
its
own material. Modern art thought has been almost exclusively
influ-
ralism
enced by the decadent Renaissance of France. Natuis not art, it is imitation, and when these two are
confused, successful decoration is well-nigh impossible. In order that decorative motives may perform their
function, they must be so conventionalized that they seem to be adequately and rightly expressed in the
material with which or in which they are used. Only the greatest artists of any time are fit to handle natural-
ism in a decorative way, and then the conventionalization or modification of them to suit the material is a
criterion of their decorative excellence.
Pictures, ornaments, and other objects, each perhaps decorative, may be so arranged on a wall, a table, or a
room.
mantel, as to destroy, for example, the rest quality of a Its dignity, too, or formality, may be absolutely lost in the arrangement of the furniture or in the placing
11
INTERIOR DECORATION
of objects of
ornament about the room.
When
this is
done the decorative object, still decorative in itself, not only fails to perform its decorative function, but it destroys the fundamental idea, the use for which it is intended.
This
is
illustrated in the
is
hanging of portieres
well-nigh impossible, or placing window hangings in such a way that no light can come in or that persons outside are always able to look in.
at doors so that passage
be seen that there is a way to hang windows and doors decoratively, and still not interfere with their This way is, of course, the right way, from function. the standpoint of function, as well as of art and common
It will later
sense.
It will be seen then that the
room takes
into account
its
problem of decorating a function and the function
of each object
used in
such a choice and
It also includes furnishing. arrangement of these objects as will

its
result in a decorative unit adequately expressed. It is really a question of seeing structure clearly in relation
need for decorative treatment, and then seeing backgrounds in their relation to the decorative objects used. In our discussion of colour this matter of backgrounds will be considered. There is one term the real meaning of which, in its relation to interior decoration, has become obsolete through
to
its
long misuse. To attempt to go into the principles of colour, form, and composition without understanding this term would be futile. I refer to the term "art." This word more than any other has been played with,
misapplied, and used for purposes of sentimental exploitation until it seems to have lost its significance.
Perhaps even in a practical discussion of interior decora12

tion
it
may
not be amiss to consider this term in
its
relation to
I
life.
have said that
man
intuitively desires to create
and
This desire is equivalent in man's to possess beauty. higher self to the appetite for food or drink or rest in the
realm of physical existence.
just as general, just as clearly defined, and just as important to man's realization of himself. This is shown by an investigation of
It
is
the savage, the barbarian, or the so-called civilized communities in their building of shelter and in its decorative treatment, their making of implements and utensils more or less ornamented, their use and misuse of paint,
all ways his man life which activities. expresses naturally by Art is then, first of all, a state of mind, a condition of consciousness growing out of a desire for beauty or one might define it as an appetite for aesthetic things. The atrocities committed in any of the fields I mentioned are but sincere attempts to create the natural stimulus which the aesthetic sense of man demands. The reasons for these inartistic things are ignorance and over-zealous not a wish to badly express the idea. desire for beauty
;
metals, and textiles in matters of attire and in
Siirce art is a state of mind or of consciousness, it may be described as harmony between the idea and its expression and between all parts of the elements through
expressed. division of this art quality is that of fitness or This requires an function, which we have discussed. element of intellectual ability on the part of the art pro-
which idea
is
The first
or second part, refers to the knowledge and feeling regarding the relationship of forms, lines and colours that will by their combination
ducer.
aesthetic,
The
13
INTERIOR DECORATION
excite
an
aesthetic
emotion when presented to the sense
of sight.
to the aesthetic or art quality is simply a question of becoming keen to what relations of colour, form, and line have in the best art expression succeeded in
The response
This response exciting the strongest aesthetic emotion. reveals what basic principles underlie the formation of these combinations, and, finally, determines the application of these principles to simple problems of choice and arrangement of the necessary things for any room
under discussion.
in sensing the art quality and securing a natural expression of it than to eliminate from one's mind some of the things that art is not.
Nothing is more helpful
Art is beauty, and beauty First, it is not prettiness. "from within out," not "from without in." Its quality is eternal. Beauty of mind, if it exist, may express
is
Some people with very homely and ordinary features are, when thinkitself
unconsciously in whatever one does.
Prettiness, on ing and acting rightly, truly beautiful. the other hand, is from without. It is ephemeral, and It takes no intellect and no aespleases the eye only.
thetic sense to appreciate prettiness.
is
it
Second, the inordinate and blind worship of the antique not art. If a man at seventy has retained any charm, is in spite of his age, not because of it. Time softens
and accentuates good things because their qualities are permanent. It sometimes aggravates and makes unbearable ugly things for the same reason. If this
difference can be seen in persons, it certainly can be perceived in things. Let the worship of pasted labels,
telling 14
how
old
an
article
is,
cease to exist, and one ob-

understanding art will be removed. Another and more deadly mistake is the idolizing of a particular man's work. "Is it a real Rembrandt?" "Is this
stacle to
"Was it done by truly of the fifteenth century?" Bramante?" "Are you certain this is an authentic
Queen Anne
time.
" piece? Much of the
No one has ever done well all the

work
has been unworthy Let us see lights has been of an excellent character. the quality of art in the object, and not the man's name or the conditions under which he made it, and there is a chance that we shall know art when it appears in the work of others or in our own. It is more difficult still to disassociate art from the idea of picture painting. In the past drawing and painting have been art education. If a man studied art, expressed art, or loved art it must be through pictures only, and they were expected to belong to the school of realism and naturalism, in which not a thing was left to the imagination of the observer except, perhaps, how long it took to paint them and how much it cost to buy
disassociate the art quality from pictures, drawings, statuary, or any one particular medium of expression, is essential to the realization of its quality
of the very greatest artists Some work of much lesser of them.
them.
To
in
any
field.
discussion, however simple, of these terms seems to establish the following facts: that art is an essential
Any
the expression of a knowledge and feeling for functional fitness and for beauty in every made thing. It should further appear that decoration is the natural expression of this art qualquality in
life
it is
human
and that
ity in objects of use and beauty, with a realization of their

15
INTERIOR DECORATION
relation to each other, and the possibilities and limitations
attendant upon the problem of furnishing a house. It should seem clear also that the structural line or build of the object is the guiding idea in the application of whatever is to be used decoratively upon the room as a background. The decorative material must not only be in harmony with the idea for which each piece stands, but it must be used harmoniously in making up the room and so expressing a complete decorative thought.
PART
CHAPTER
COLOUR AND ITS RELATION TO THE DECORATIVE IDEA
MAN
others
set of
expresses his ideas or conveys his thoughts to by means of language, and language consists of a
symbols which serve to establish a standard syscommunication between all persons by whom these symbols are understood. To all who understand
tem
of
English the word
"boy" conveys
practically the
same
general meaning. In any tongue the word symbol is meant to establish a criterion of understanding as
to
some object or idea
for
which the word symbol
stands.
The same truth may be applied to musical tones. A succession of sounds or a chord of tones conveys to him
who understands this language a concord of musical elements expanded into a motif. A quality or an emotion quite similar in its nature is aroused in all persons
Musical composition exists to convey from one person to others a stimulant, whose
action on the aesthetic sense and on the consciousness of
who hear and understand.
human
beings shall result in awakening definite emoits efficient
tions, thus constructing definite ideas.
The picture language, and
method of com-
municating ideas even between people who do not understand the same word language or the same sound
17
INTERIOR DECORATION
is too well known and understood to require comment. Age, success, national limitations, and educational development are alike unable to destroy the power of the pictured idea. Colour, which is perhaps one of the most potent and certainly one of the most pleasing means of expressing
language,
ideas,
is
least understood.
the most abused.

this age colour is
language forms due to the fact that in partly as usually accepted good because it
It
is
of all
This
is
belonged to some period expression, or because some particular person used it, or, what is more lamentable, because some individual likes it for personal reasons. The sentimental aspect of colour, sensed and used for the orgy for emotions it creates, has done much to retard the
and sensible understanding and use of it. If it is worth knowing at all, it is worth understanding as well as feeling, and it is also worth using to express with the utmost perfection all that its component elements
scientific
can possibly tell. Like all other language expressions there are two ways of approaching it from the constructive standpoint: first, one may be surrounded by a harmonious colour environment. He may be led to see what is really good and bad under this condition and he may by unconscious absorption particularly if he has a natural learn to sense right relainstinct for colour discernment in his them own life expression. and use This tionships manner, however, of acquiring knowledge is one sided,
and
is
applicable mostly to persons
endowed, leaving one with no

cept feeling.
18
are unusually standard of judgment ex-
who
Since feelings are emotions and differ
absolutely in individuals, they
must
also
vary in every
THE DECORATIVE IDEA

and therefore the results of this training with most persons are somewhat unreliable.
instance,
On the other hand,

in nature,
and
colour, when considered as a power regarded as a normal method of express-
ing ideas, may be as scientific in its inception and workings as any other power in nature, so becoming a
tangible thing to acquire and use. Science has not developed colour as
it
has sound, but
many analogies apparent to the uninitiated. Sound is produced by the vibration of the ether surroundthere are
ing us. Colour the same ether.
produced by the vibration of light in Sound, its combinations and messages, reach consciousness through the sense of hearing. Colour, its elemental meanings, combinations, and force, reach
is
the same consciousness in the same
way through the sense
of sight. The impressions of sound and colour are interwoven in consciousness through association with other ideas and with each other, until music seems to have In colour, and colour seems to express musical tone. in the minds not for them to transdifficult many late a symphony in music to a colour harmony exciting the same emotions, or the colour harmony to the musical symphony with the same results. It is not the purpose
fact, so closely are these
media associated
of
persons that
it is
of this discussion to
ships,
go into the details of these relation-
but only to bring to the mind of the reader the necessity for seeing colour at the outset from the same
standpoint of common sense and adaptability for use that he sees sound symbols or picture representations.
The
ress
interest which one has in a language and the proghe makes in acquiring it depend upon perceiving clearly the simplest elements in that language, their re19
INTERIOR DECORATION
lation to each other
press.
and to ideas which they should exThe treatment of colour must be under the same
conditions.
been said that colour originates in light. This be may proven by observing colours in the brilliant sunlight, in a shaded room, on a very dark day, just before dark, and in a perfectly darkened room if this were possiThe change in their appearance in each case is due ble.
It has
to the change in light in which these observations are made. The colour of the object remains the same, but the condition under which the eye receives the impres-
The dull day brings dull colours apparThis and ently, similarly the bright day brilliant ones. is because the light is bright or dull, and not because the pigment substance has in any way been changed. This fact is important in the selection and arrangement of materials for furnishing a room, inasmuch as the room must be seen ordinarily in all kinds of weather, day and Unless night, with both natural and artificial lights. one knows what the normal colour is under normal circumstances, he is unable to use the artificial light which comes from electricity, gas, or oil, or to use hangings other than white, or to place upon his walls any colour from which light must be reflected onto all other objects
sion changes.
associated with
it.
Is
it
not clear that the light enter-
room may be changed in tone by the colour of the window hanging, through which it is filtered, by reflecting from the wall some of the colour which its surface shows, or from the changed aspect which it must take on if the light itself is produced by artificial means? All of us have seen blue turn to green when seen under artificial light. We have seen violet almost become red,
ing a
20
THE DECORATIVE IDEA

appear gray. These are natural and are due only to the effect changes, perfectly which one element in colour produces on another when
of violet
and another tone
used in connection with it. Bad colour schemes could easily be avoided if we knew the power of each of the elements concerned.
It
is
wise at this point to differentiate between colour as
the physicist uses the term in connection with colour in light, or as component elements of pure white light and
the pigment colour so called, which includes dyestuffs, These printers' inks, oil and water-colour paints, etc.
pigments are materials which absorb a part of each ray of light and leave the remaining part on the surface, giving the impression to the eye of the colour which one sees when he beholds any object. In terms of general understanding there are three elemental pigments which express the three primary elements of colour found in white light. In pigment terms these three elements are called yellow, red, and
blue,
and are the primary colours
in
what
is
known
as
the colour spectrum.

into a neutral gray in
When
these normal elements are
in their fullest strength
they are easily fused by mixing which no apparent colour is seen.
This gray, eliminating all colour, is the proof that the three elemental pigments are the foundation of the colour language and that their fusion into gray is the translation of the
rainbow spectrum into light. Starting then with yellow, red, and blue of normal tone, all other colour tones, with the additional use of black and white, may be made. Because of this, yellow, red, and blue stand out as the simplest, most primitive, least
involved,
and most
easily grasped of all colour tones.

21
INTERIOR DECORATION
easy to understand why young children, primitive races, and persons with an obtuse colour sense can without conscious effort appreciate yellow, red, and blue in
It
is
more their full brilliancy and in limitless areas. refined sense or a greater range of colour possibility ignores this crudeness, except in cases of extraordinary emphasis for very particular reasons. Green as a normal colour is one-half yellow and onehalf blue in force; orange is one-half red and one-half yellow; purple is one-half red and one-half blue. These three colours, because there are two elements involved
in each, are called binary colours,
contain two
these, since they elements each, are less easily grasped, re-
and
quire a more cultivated sense, of quality idea.
and express a wider range

us examine the funcolour tone should by
let
With
these six colours in
mind
damental meaning of each. A its very nature mean a quality, and should arouse in the individual the feeling of quality, and not merely excite a
feeling of pleasure or bring
up by
association the colour
name. Yellow
is
more than any and
of these like the
sun or
arti-
ficial light in its
artificial lights,
appearance. In fact, it is very like most like the sun when one looks directly
this,
yellow is called light, and just as light brings cheer into the darkened room, just as it gives life to plant forms, just as its life-giving and cheergiving qualities are seen in other manifestations, so
into
it.
Because of
yellow, entering into any colour scheme whatever, introduces into it the same quality feelings of light, cheer,
buoyancy and
life.
The darkened
city
room, with
its
one window opening
THE DECORATIVE IDEA

on a court, may be made livable and usable by means of a yellow wall paper, with a lighter, softer, yellow ceiling. Then, by bringing light yellow into the hangings and using yellow lamp shades lined with white, all the The natural and artificial light will be conserved. will be lights supplemented by the colour, and the qualities which light itself has will be forced into the scheme
of the
room.
is
rangement
use.
power of light to forget the fundamental fact
To
forget the
in
room
ar-
in all colour
that in any of these cases a perfectly full, intense, brilliant yellow should appear, but a colour tone, in which yellow is the dominating
element.
This does not
mean
Such names as
buff, cream, ecru,
lemon,
is
etc., are given to yellow colour tones in which yellow the dominating element.
suggests blood and fire blood as it relates to the life-giving or vitalizing force in man which makes him
Red
think more
and act more quickly which arouses his passions, and creates ideas of warmth and irritation. This is particularly true because persons have been born and have lived with blood red in colour and
quickly
with
life
dominating element. We know by experience the effects of such things on the actions
fire
red in
its
of
man.
This quality of aggressive action on the part of red is curious in its effect when used in excess. Some two years ago hi a large department store a small room was A built and coloured throughout a bright normal red.
jury of six
interior.
men was
invited to estimate the size of the
The same room was removed
to another part
and coloured in light clear blue. The same party of men was asked to estimate the size of this room.
of the store
23
INTERIOR DECORATION
They estimated the
larger
latter to
be over thirty per cent,
than the former, and refused to believe that the

identical.
its
two rooms were

Red, by
the walls
consciousness
aggressive nature, seems to reach man's
more quickly than blue and, therefore, and ceilings seem to contract or to be brought
closer together, thus lessening the apparent size of the room. The effect that red has upon animal life is well
use in exciting the temper of the bull in the Spanish bull ring, the turkey gobbler on the New England farm, or the savage beast in the jungles of the African forest. This exciting quality which red posillustrated
by
its
sesses is a valuable asset for use in stage settings where the primary object is to create a state of emotion in the audience in harmony with the incident which the actors
wish to force on public consciousness. Those who have seen Miss Nethersole, Mrs. Patrick Campbell, or Mrs. Fiske' in any of their pronounced successes can readily see how the use and the absence of this colour have played a large part in the creation of an atmosphere calculated to convince the audience of the idea which
the play portrayed. The skillful use of red brings out particularly in town houses a quality of warmth and inviting hospiOn the other hand, a use of tality not to be despised.
it
in
any considerable quantity
in the country house
suggests the temperature that is likely to prevail, instead of giving the impression of an antidote for the weather one is trying to escape.
Blue, the third element of colour, is known as the cold or non-aggressive element. It is this which holds red in check or destroys the too pronounced effect of
24
H n H H >
OH SM
a H
oS
ji
II
< g u 55
M S ^ a C5 W
CO
3 ^ i n
cc O O P a
o H a , ^ <! M
THE DECORATIVE IDEA

yellow and red in a combination where the three elements appear. ? The association of blue with the cold aspect of the sky on a winter's night, with ice, when seen in thick cakes, with the blue waters of the ocean,
etc.,
must
has given blue a place in human consciousness that excite the qualities with which it is associated. Blue, then, on the stage and in the house, must be looked
to for sensations of coolness, repose, restraint, and formality, as well as for an antidote in case of too warm a
temperature or a too excited mental state. Green is not only yellow and blue, but light and cool-
and restraint. The grass and trees in summer, combined with the blue sky, help, if the climate is exhausting, to render people comfortable and to make Green is a colour heralded by oculists as life agreeable. beneficial to the eyes, and is regarded as soothing to It is quite right tired nerves and injured dispositions.
ness, cheer
that
should be so considered, since these qualities light and coolness, cheerfulness with moderation, rest and vitality are intermingled equally in the sensations which green is asked to arouse when presented to the sense of sight. This makes green an admirable colour
it
under certain circumstances to use in hot climates, in country houses, and for nervous people. When properly harmonized it may become a symphonic part of any combination under any circumstances. The qualities of orange will also be found in yellow
and red
that
is,
irritation, vitality
light and heat, cheerful vigour and and aggression. Orange, then, unless
controlled, arouses all those qualities opposed to green. It inevitably destroys the effect of repose, restraint, etc.,
excepting
when used
in counteracting combinations, 25
INTERIOR DECORATION
where the control
Orange, with
its
with the other colour tones. accessory hues, includes such colours as
is
and many wood colours, as well as combinations with orange as dominant while other colours hold it in restraint so that its full power
browns
of all kinds, red buffs,
not exercised. Small quantities of brilliant orange are possible, however, since only a small area is essential to give all the impression of that quality that is healthful for the ordinary individual.
is
Purple, the last of the binary colours, seems to have expressed itself even more clearly in the past, and is the
most easily grasped of the three. All the qualities of red and all the qualities of blue fused together result Ice and coals of fire would destroy practically in ashes. each other; heat and arctic temperature neutralize each other; aggression and restraint balance or complement each other, and shade, quiet, or a mystic twilight
result.
Purple has always been used with a mystic significance by the church and is known as royal purple because of
court
its
life.
association with the mystic ceremonials of Instinctively people have chosen purple to
express the stage of mourning which exists between the period when vogue has declared pure black an expression of one's sorrow and the time when he may again wear any colour which to him seems suitable. Purple is shadow, and shadows in nature are always some purple tone. Shade, sorrow, mysticism, and dignity are the fundamental quality characteristics of this third binary colour when it is seen in its normal tone. There are
many
26
tones of this colour
known
in trade parlance as
violet, lilac, lavender, elephant's breath,
London smoke,
THE DECORATIVE IDEA

them being some manifestation of the two elements red and blue, with the combination addition of the other element yellow in some proportion,
mauve,
etc., all of
of the
or of black, with purple

real
still
in control.
For a proper understanding of these colours and their meaning it is essential to ignore the idea of vogue as it is formulated either by commercial enterprise or human fancy, and manifested from year to year in the fashions of the time. This statement must not be taken to mean that an entire room in any one of these colours is desirable under any circumstances. It is show what the to introduction of merely given any colour could mean and does mean, consciously or unconsciously,
more or
is
less,
to
anybody who
lives in
it.
The word tone
the most general
name
in colour use.
Any note of colour, including black, white, or gray, is a colour tone. The term "normal colour" is given to colour tones when they are at their fullest strength in the
spectrum circuit or rainbow colour scheme. Any colour which is lighter than the normal colour is called a tint, and any colour which is darker than the normal colour, a shade. A neutral tone is a tone in which there is no apparent colour. Neutral gray, black, and white are the only true neutrals. Gold, in period study, is sometimes classed as a neutral tone, although of course always some modified form of yellow.
it is
Every tone
to say
it is
of colour has its three distinct qualities.
We are apt to think of a colour as one simple thing, and

either too strong or too weak without conThe first quality of a colour tone sidering this fact. is its hue. In speaking of yellow we mean the normal
primary yellow
hi
which there
is
no other element pres27
INTERIOR DECORATION
ent.
able to detect immediately if if red is present in the slightest it or has blue in yellow degree. As soon as any blue appears in yellow it begins This green any green in which there is to be a green. more yellow apparent than blue is called yellow green, and all tones of green between normal green and yellow belong to the class of hues called yellow green. Add to normal yellow the slightest bit of red, and the colour approaches orange. In fact, it is a yellow orange,
One should be
and
all tones made up of red and yellow, which are nearer yellow than orange, belong to the class of hues known as yellow orange. Start with normal red and
by the addition
orange, but red colour tones this
of yellow the colour tone approaches

is is
the dominating element.
In such
red orange because it belongs to the family orange and the element red is in excess of the element yellow. If we start with normal red and add
So long as red is the the hues are the red purple. If dominating element, blue is the starting point, however, and red is added, the hues between normal purple and blue are blue purple.
blue, the purple hues appear.
When the starting point is blue, and yellow is added, the blue begins to assume a greenish hue, and blue green is the name given to the set of hues between normal blue
and normal green. These sets of tones which are found around the
bi-
nary colours express hues of colour. It will be seen then that hue is the name of the colour itself, or that it
really expresses the degree of so-called heat or cold which a colour has. The hues of colour between yellow
colours.
and purple, including all greens and all blues, are cool Those between yellow and purple, including
28
-f'
A HISTORIC ROOM IN THE STYLE OF LOUIS XVI, WHOSE BACKGROUND IS A PROPER SETTING FOR FURNITURE AND DECORATIONS.
A.
A HISTORIC ROOM IN FRENCH STYLE WHOSE BACKGROUND IS UNSUITED TO FURTHER DECORATIVE EFFECTS AND WHOSE ARRANGEMENT DISREGARDS DECORATIVE LAW. WALL PAPERS ARE OFTEN USED IN MODERN ROOMS WITH THE SAME EFFECT.
B.
THE DECORATIVE IDEA

orange and red colour tones, are warm colours. It is this that gives significance to the expression "temperamental colour," one's tefltfferament being expressed by the hues on the right or the left of the spectrum
all
circuit.
There are two ways in which one should see the temperament idea in its relation to the subject Interior
Decoration.
If it is
granted that certain colour tones
produce, consciously and unconsciously, certain impressions or mental states in individuals living under their
whether the mental the mental state in which he ought most often to be. For instance, I may enjoy being thrilled and stirred, warmed and excited, by orange or red in their combinations, but it may be
influence, then arises the question
state the individual enjoys
most
is
more agreeable for my associates if I am surrounded by green or blue colours exercising some restraining influence upon my nature instead of catering to what is most pleasing to me in the way of
better for
far
:
me and
emotional sensation. In selecting material for one's self, or in advising any one what to select, it is always wise to sense as nearly as
possible the psychological condition of temperament before attempting to control or augment its idiosyncrasies
by environment.
subject of hue cannot very well be left without referring to what is known as keying a colour, or the
The
keying of a scheme of colour to a dominant hue. Much has been said and written about this dominant hue keying. It simply means this: that one of the three elements yellow, red, or blue must be introduced into the leading areas of a colour scheme in such a way
29
INTERIOR DECORATION
that one will feel
is
its presence, although the colour itself tone in the spectrum circuit. another found in A very familiar violation of the rule for keying colour
with perhaps a natural-wood or ivory-white trim, a hardwood floor, and a perfectly white kalsomined ceiling. "White is such a combination of the primary elements of colour that no one colour is apparent. It is saturated with the three elements; in consequence, no one domiColours show more strongly on it than on any nates. other colour or on black. In white, there being no apparent colour, it is unrelated and, therefore, cannot become a part of a keyed room scheme in which there is any If the wall colour is a soft neutralfloor or wall colour. ized yellow or orange, then the ceiling must be keyed with that colour in a lighter tone, so that you feel the ceiling tied with an apparent colour element to the wall, of which it is really a part.
is
found
in the use of a definite wall-paper tone
true of the ceiling is true of the floor. When the floor cannot be keyed to the wall, rugs should be used
What
is
which the dominating tone is that of the wall. The rugs must be keyed to the wall in order to become a part of it. Of course there are times when the rug or
in
rugs play in the key of the trim instead of the wall paper, but in the simplest arrangement the three parts of
the
room
is
so that there
It
and ceiling should be keyed an apparent link or common element. often possible to key furniture which, so far
walls, floors,
is
as the
of the
wood goes, is a foreign colour tone to the rest room by upholstery in which the dominating
is
colour
30
the floor.
strongly keyed to the wall colour, the trim, or Preferably, key to the wall colour because
THE DECORATIVE IDEA

of the intimate relationship between the background of a room and the accessory objects that are to be shown against it. This is essential to unity of colour, and is
the only
way
to secure an expression of rest, refinement
and
repose.
quality a colour tone possesses is called This quality takes its name from the position a value. tone holds in a scale of even sequence between black
It relates, therefore, to light, and is perfrom the quality of colour or hue. If one distinct fectly thinks of a graded scale from black to white in which
The second
and white.
even steps of grade are found in any number, a standard of judgment as to the meaning of the word value is
easily fixed.
For example, a colour tone whose light quality is oneway between black and white is called middle value. In a scale of nine tones, one-half way between middle and white is called light, one-half way between light and middle is called low light, and one-half way between light and white is called high light. In the same way, one-half way between middle and black is dark, while one-half way between middle and dark is high dark, and one-half way between middle and black is low dark. These values, though arbitrary, are equidistant in light quality from each other, and standardize the value idea, thereby helping one to disassociate the value qualIt is ity from the hue quality previously discussed. difficult at first to see each quality as a separate idea, but
half
only in so doing is one able to understand how to select and arrange colours in composition so that each tone serves its full purpose and does not conflict in
31
INTERIOR DECORATION
any one quality while seeming to agree
two.
in the other
The preeminent importance
of the
room
as a back-
ground for the application of the decorative idea cannot be too often emphasized. The question of value in
background is a delicate but important one. To arrange this background in such a way that no part of it becomes too important, aggressive, or forceful is the problem, and a right choice of values contributes more toward solving it successfully than, perhaps, any one quality in colour choice.
relation to
The
old conviction that the trim
must stand out
as
distinctly as possible from the wall cover is antagonistic If the wall cover and trim to the background idea.
are different in hue, it is almost necessary that their values should be practically the same. In fact, if both
hue and value are the same, the result is not only more pleasing, but far more sensible in cases where the trim is
Where a natural-wood trim is sometimes more difficult to adjust the question of hue but if there is a hue difference, the value difference should not be in too great a contrast, as it immediately establishes hard and inconsistent lines. The strong appeal of these lines is hard to neutralize by decorative treatment without causing the room to become crude and unrestful in its final quality. In some periods, it is true, ivory-white woodwork and a middle-value wall colour appear with mahogany
painted or enamelled.
it is
;
involved,
furniture and, sometimes, mahogany doors. This, however, is a condition of period which was influenced
somewhat by the popularity or vogue of mahogany wood, somewhat by the unusual idea of spick and span
33
THE DECORATIVE IDEA

which the Colonial period sought, not only to establish, but to promulgate, and somewhat by the desire for a note dark enough in value to gi\v strength and definite form to the side wall, hi order that it should relate itself in some way to a darker floor or, perhaps, darker rugs and carpets and furniture. We derive from those historic periods whose styles are most adaptable to our modern conditions the law of a lighter ceiling, a midway side wall and a darker floor. This is reasonable and sensible, since man hi his natural environment has lived under these conditions when outside the house. If one looks about him hi the country he finds the sky lighter than the far-away hills, the far-away hills lighter in value than the shadow under the tree where he stands. This is taken by many as the fundamental reason why the room feels more comcleanliness
fortable
order.
when the value

is
relations are placed in this
There
probably
still
another reason
why one
in-
these relative positions. The law of tuitively gravitation, pulling or attracting always toward the centre of the earth, establishes in all persons a feeling for a strong base on which to rest and upon which other
feels
objects
may
repose.
If
the order of values
is
reversed,
having the darkest value overhead, one cannot help feeling the possibility of a falling ceiling which must result in a crushed and crumbling floor, it not being dark enough to support the falling weight. When the floor sometimes a hardwood finish is lighter than the wall, the value relations may be adjusted by the use of darker rugs. In fact, this is the
only
way
to give the proper feeling of structure
and
rest
33
INTERIOR DECORATION
to the
completed. This, in part, settles the value relation of the floor to the walls and
it is
room
unit
when
necessary, however, in final criticism, that the rugs do not spot or badly outline themselves against the light floor. It would be better to treat the
ceiling.
is
Care
floor in
such a
way
gressive addition.
It
that the rugs do not become an agis the place of a rug to lie incon-
spicuously and quietly on a floor. of the floor, the fact that we walk on
tal position of the
The very
it,
function
and the horizon-
rug
itself
are
all
reasons
why
it
should
be modest, eliminating the disposition on the part of the individual to centre his interest upon a place where lie should walk and place his feet without conscious
calculation.
more than backa of every single object in the grounds. quality decorating and furnishing scheme. The hangings are a decorative idea, and are to be used, as suggested in a
idea extends to something
is
The value
It
previous chapter, to emphasize and beautify the structural opening with which they are associated. The question of their contrast with the background is in
each case a new one but, fundamentally, they should be stronger in contrast than the trim with the wall cover or the wall, as a whole, with the ceiling or floor. These background parts are to be seen as a unit. The hangings constitute the first decorative idea to be
considered in the scheme of furnishing. white lace curtains of half a century ago
selves
The
starched
the strongest possible contrast in value between the wall and them-
have generally disappeared as persons of refinement have appreciated, quite intuitively maybe, that these introduced an element in no way keyed to the rest
34
THE DECORATIVE IDEA

of the wall,
and generally
in
no way
possible, since they
seemed totally unrelated to their surroundings. If the trim of some room perchance is white, the ceiling white, and the furniture painted white, the white lace curtains or white muslin ones are a part of the decorative scheme. Where colour, however, in hue dominates the decorative scheme, white curtains are quite
impossible. Rugs are probably
more often badly

article
related in values
used in furnishing a house. been so severe in the last twenty -five years that the term and cost have become synonymous with the idea "effective floor covering." The floor is, as previously remarked, covered for comfort and to make it more beautiful by softening the
than any other one
The epidemic
of Oriental rugs has
wood appearance, and adding texture. The idea of comfort and luxury in sitting
has brought the rug into universal use. were not, for the most part, produced in response to the need which has just been mentioned. Various forms and decorative motifs have been created, some for
their religious significance, some as family symbols, and others out of totally unrelated art expressions. They
or walking Oriental rugs
have been woven

expressed
in rug
forms
much as the Gothic spirit
itself in tapestries,
the Renaissance in carved
wood and
lated
chiselled stone, or New England Colonial architecture in bricks and white marble. The unre-
and confusing medallion and shapes
of that sort
must be so
closely related in value that they are not
only inconspicuous but almost eliminated before the rug has any of the qualities necessary for harmonizing it with the floor or with the structural characteristics
35
INTERIOR DECORATION
of the furniture to be placed
upon
it.
This
is
partic-
ularly evident where patterns appear on backgrounds of white, light yellow, or other strong values that make the pattern more important than is the structural edge of
the rug upon the floor.
These distracting shapes are often the reason for an unrestful, undignified, and inartistic impression one has on entering even the most luxurious of modern houses. Since the floor is a background, since chairs must be seen upon it, as well as people, and since it is unimportant as a show place when compared with the walls, it must be as inconspicuous as they are in value relations. This rule might be applied to each article in the room, but perhaps one or two more concrete instances may
make the meaning clearer. The Italian Renaissance developed probably the most
dignified, strong, and formal chair the world has yet seen. It was also, in proportion, one of the most beautiful.
til
Its wood was dark in value and it was covered, unthe decadent period, in a dark red, green, or blue tone. This value differs little, if any, from the wood itself, but
emphasizes the decorative idea by change of hue and

intensity only.
There was a time and the fad is still cherished by some people when pictures, particularly prints, photographs, and engravings were matted on white. When a brown photograph is mounted on white and a dark brown frame is placed around (which should always be the case), the strongest contrast is found where the frame and mat meet. "Strongest contrast" means
is
"strongest desire to look." Granting that the picture the thing to be seen and that the strongest contrast
36
THE DECORATIVE IDEA

between the picture and
its
draw the attention
of the observer to
adjacent environment would it, the mat is not
only a non-essential but a positive hindrance to a proper appreciation of the picture itself.
Applications of this idea of close value relationships
where things should be unobtrusive and should possess wider value contrasts, where the desire to emphasize is compatible with good taste, establish a standard of judgment or criticism which any person may use on any room with effective results. The third colour quality is called intensity. This quality takes its name from the colour itself, and relates In common parto its vitality or individual strength. lance we speak of brilliant colours and soft ones, sometimes of brilliant and pastel. This quality is the one which shows how much vitality or personal force a
colour tone possesses. Full intense colours, particularly those spectrum hues which have been discussed,
express in the strongest stand.
in value,
ful
it
way
the idea for which they

is
For example, a normal blue, which

is
blue at dark
as force-
at
its fullest
intensity; that
is, it is
a blue as can be made. If I make it lighter I weaken by putting white or water into it. If I darken it I
it, because I must do so with black, it being of as full the colour itself as it can get. This same just thing is true of all other colour hues at their normal
also
weaken
maturity point. Black, which is the absence of colour, should be understood here because it is this tone which absorbs colour when it is brought in contact with it as a surface. For example, colour is stronger displayed on white than
37
INTERIOR DECORATION
on black, all things being equal, because white does not absorb and black does. An illustration of this is seen in its application to persons. White, worn next the face, leaves all the colour the individual has apparent to an observer. Black absorbs or extracts
it is
colour and, for most people, is impossible when in contact or close juxtaposition to the skin of the face.
It
is
essential to
remember
this in the
treatment of
colour in relation to
its intensity quality. Pairs of colours, or opposite ones, in the spectrum circuit, are called
complements. One colour complements another because it contains always the two other elements which its opFor example, orange is made of equal posite lacks. Its complement is normal forces of yellow and red.
blue.
forces of red
In the pigment circuit purple is the union of equal and blue. The missing element, yellow, is its complement. While green unites in equal power the and blue, missing element red complements yellow
it.
Since yellow, red, and blue fused in equal forces produce a neutral gray, green and red mixed in the same way also produce gray. This is equally true of orange
and
blue, of purple
and yellow, and,
in fact, of
any op-
posite spectrum hues, such as yellow orange and blue violet, yellow green and red violet, red orange and blue
green.
of these pairs neutralizes the other therefore, complementary in its relationship.
Each
and
is,
A colour is neutralized by introducing into it as a normal colour the normal complement. In proportion as the complement enters into it, it loses its own natural vital force, and not only holds itself in restraint, but
38
THE DECORATIVE IDEA

takes on a certain proportion of the qualities of the other two elements which have been introduced into it.
The
result is a colour neutralized by its complement. See how subtle relationships may become to him who understands grayed or neutralized colours. Green a union of light, cheer, coolness, and restraint, harmonized and modified by the proper amount of heat and vigour becomes a subtle compound of the essen-
tial qualities of colour.
dominant position of each which is being worked out.
It expresses one's idea of the in the individual problem
Due
its
regard to this matter of intensity in colour and right management is probably the most effective
things, so that
means by which one may use ordinary
their effect shall at least not be aggressive,
common-
place, or harmful. When one-half the vitality of a colour has been destroyed by its complement it is said to be half neutralized.
It then has one-half itself plus one-fourth each of the other two elements of colour. Its own idea or
dominant and it controls the quality elements of the other two, but uses them to soften its
quality
is
still
own
appeal.
Colour tones
may
be
less or
more than one-half neutones between a
tralized; in fact, there
may be as many
normal colour and a perfect gray as one's eye is able to This process by which the distinguish, and no more. colour loses its self -force by the introduction of its complement
The
called the process of neutralization. application of the principle of intensity to the

is is
the same as the application of the value power, except that its relation to the back-
problem of the house
39
INTERIOR DECORATION
ground
is
even more important than in the case of any
is the loudest, strongest, most forceful appeal of the idea for which it stands. It should, then, be reserved for the few things which
other colour quality. Full, intense colour
one wishes to make emphatic in any scheme of colour composition. If the vital force of each colour tone is expended on unnecessary and unimportant things, what shall we do about the things to which we would call
particular attention?
In music special stress or emphasis of tone is reserved for those chords or passages which must be brought
home to the hearer with particular strength.

of
If the full
an orchestra is expended on introductory, expower planatory, and non-essential passages, in what way shall
the vital ones receive particular stress ? The analogy between this idea and the human voice in talking is easily grasped, and the same idea should be seen with equal
clearness
in
colour appeal as to
effect.
reference to the intensity emphasis in when and where to use it with
Applied to backgrounds there is one principle that fundamental and final in any field of expression. "Backgrounds must be less intense in colour than objects which are to be effectively shown on them." What a revelation in window dressing there would be if persons responsible for them were not more anxious
is
show an inartistic and ugly grained or highly polished woodwork than they were the modest articles disOr what a change would played upon this background
to
!
the velvet or velour drapery backgrounds of these windows were not of a colour far stronger in inif
be seen
40
THE DECORATIVE IDEA

tensity than any of the goods the shopkeeper asks the public to observe.
is
The room, particularly one in which people must live, a very much more important matter. This is true
not only because of the qualities which the background of the room must unite but also because decoration of any kind or description becomes impossible unless conditions are right to begin with. Then, too, the room exists in a
house, generally speaking, for people rather than for This is a consideration to which objects of furniture.
very few give sufficient weight. During the daytime and evening, in varying conditions of feeling, appearance, and dress, one must be seen by the family and one's friends must be exploited against the background of the
room.
Take a
soft neutralized tone of yellow, green, or blue
wall paper, and upon it place small pieces, one at a time, of the most intense red, blue, green, yellow, purple, and
orange
silk or
paper.
it
See
how
this neutralized back-
ground makes
colour to do
idea.
less intense,
possible for each small piece of vital its full work as the expression of a personal
Take small
and
pieces of the same colours, a little see that it is possible for each of these
its
idea while the background does not Conceive one's self in the materially interfere with it. of silk these of or place pieces paper, and it is not difficult
colours to express
would be somewhat similar. Reverse this process, and take large pieces of full, intense colours as backgrounds, and upon them try to show small pieces of very neutralized colour tones. It will quickly be seen that these colours not only are of no merit whatever, as colour, but are neutralized or deto imagine that the result
41
INTERIOR DECORATION
stroyed, at least in part,
the background idea. intensity and area, to the utter destruction of everything with which it comes in contact. Furniture, pic-
ferocious onslaught of This sweeps on, because of its
by the
ornament, and persons disappear and become as nothing when compared with its full intensity. From this last illustration two other important lessons may be drawn as to the areas or relative areas in which intensities may appear and still express their fundamental ideas. The neutralized background of a wall with a half intense or even more intense hanging may be used with a small lamp shade, or bit of interesting ornament, or pottery, of a full intense colour, and each have its share The larger the area, under ordinary of importance. conditions, the less intense a colour should be and conversely, the smaller the area the more intense a
tures,
the actual degree of intensity, of course, depending upon the amount of stress or emphasis one is willing to give that particular thing.
colour
may be,
This thought would be incomplete unless a caution were given in regard to the intensity of the rug or parts of it. The most effective rug is that in which the whole is keyed by one colour with all others subordinating themselves to this keyed idea. If this is not possible, intensity relations, as well as value relations, should be so close that no one part of the rug seems unduly important. As has been said, no part of the floor is a
picture gallery or place to exploit shapes, forms, or colours at the expense of the tone unit for which the floor
on the other hand, any part of the rug must be intense, the law of intensity as to areas should
stands.
42
If,
THE DECORATIVE IDEA

certainly
be observed and in a most conservative
manner. Let the interesting and vitally decorative spots and lines of the room have the intense colour emphasis. Let this appear also in single objects, and the third or intensity quality of colours will be considered in away that makes this quality a fundamental force in interior
decoration.
knowledge of the qualities of each colour, its hue, tone, value and intensity, should lead to a conscious,
sensible application of that
knowledge
in the fields that
have been suggested.

tion of
This leads naturally to the ques-
which is essential to the selecharmony tion and arrangement of a scheme for furnishing a room. By harmony is meant agreement or concord. When there is perfect agreement, complete harmony results and a somewhat monotonous condition is felt. In muin colour,
sic
the major scale
relation.
the simplest expression of tonal composition wholly in the major chord,

is
without any introduction of the so-called accidental, is simple, somewhat primitive and, to most people, a bit A knowledge of the right time and the right tiresome.
to use the accidental, or the unexpected idea, enables one to add the charm of subtlety and to increase
way
the interest.
room presents an admirable opportunity for the working out of this idea. The novice, or even the artist, should know the law and be able to obey it perfectly
before he
lished
may
in
break
it.
deviation from the estabis
the so-called poet's license, or artist's license, granted to the masters of the situation and not to the rank and file of the uninformed.
form
any expression
43
INTERIOR DECORATION
It is essential that harmony be accepted, not only as the desirable criterion, but also as the basic idea for all
Colour harmony, like harmony based upon tonal relationships. There are generally conceded to be two kinds those of likeness and those of contrast or difference. This likeness is sometimes called analogy or relationship or natural agreement. It may be illustrated with the colour green, which is a union of yellow and blue in equal
effective composition.
in sound,
is
force.
to blue,
Green is, therefore, as much related to yellow as and is one-half related to each. It is, therefore, somewhat harmonious with each from the outset. Blue green is three parts blue and one part yelIt
low, thus being in closer
may yellow. least in common, at part

though in the quality of sociated.
harmony with blue than with be used with yellow because it has one
and
is
therefore related to
it is
it,
harmony
not so closely as-
Yellow green, on the other hand, is more harmonious with yellow than with blue because of its component Yellow, it will be seen, is a common element in parts.
yellow green, green, and blue green. Therefore, these four form what is known as a related or analogous harmony in colour. Any two, three, or the whole four
selected in their proper values with right intensity relations become a colour harmony of the first kind or the
be considered with yellow orange, orange, and red orange, it forms a family relationship in which two, three, or four tones may form a
likeness type.
If yellow
group.
Normal yellow and normal red, or normal yellow and normal blue, are not related and may, therefore, not be
44
'
THE DECORATIVE IDEA

considered together in any one of these groups. Yet if red is the standard colour chosen, red orange, orange, and yellow orange are each related to it, and a third
analogous family
is
seen.
If blue, blue green, green,
and yellow green are chosen a fourth group appears. The same thing is true in the consideration of purples. Blue, blue purple, purple, and red purple form a group; red, red purple, purple, and blue purple form another
group.
This method of producing a colour harmony is the simplest because the colour tones are themselves related in their inherent makeup. .Even if two or more of them appear in quite intense tones^a concord or agreement in
natural forces makes their harmonizing appear simpler, although it is in reality cruder, and it is generally very temperamental in its choice and use.
one intuitively chooses schemes in house decoration which blue, blue green, green and yellow green dominate, it is apt to be for temperamental or climatic reasons, or, perchance, because of too much light in the particular locality in which the problem is worked out. If the soft browns, tans, or buffs in the realm of red
If
in
orange, orange, and yellow orange are selected, the same condition? of temperament or location probably influenced their choice.
introduction of the complementary colour would necessarily bring in the three or four elements of colour
possibility. this chance.
is
The
The analogous scheme never presents With the analogous scheme, however, it
possible to introduce complementary small notes or areas which may be called the accidentals in the estab45
lished colour scheme.
INTERIOR DECORATION
The second phase

plementary, this
harmony is known as combeing harmony of contrast. Full inof colour
tense complements are dissimilar in every particular. No part of yellow or its qualities is found in purple, no
quality of blue in orange, nor of red in green. As full intense normal colours these are totally unrelated and
are the most inharmonious possible colour tones used next to each other without any separation neutral tone. Nothing can be cruder, harsher, or
when
by a more
commonplace than a rug
in red
and green.
With these
colour tones in juxtaposition it is impossible for the eye to accept the resulting condition, and every one knows the vibration or blurred effect produced by an attempt
accommodate the eye to such a colour combination. The same is true of orange and blue and purple and yellow, though, perhaps, in a somewhat lesser degree
to
because of the luminosity quality of colour which be considered later.

in
is
to
Neutralization, or the use of neutralized colour tones complements, is the method by which harmony is
obtained. One-half neutral green and one-half neutral red are harmonious because each has introduced into it
The
one-half of the other colour qualities of the spectrum. one-half neutral colours may be supplemented with
other tones of the same colours, more or less neutralized, and the harmony remains. It is a question of the degree of inter-relationships in the number of tones used, their relative areas, and the juxtaposition of tones appearing in the composition. Full intense colours should
not be brought near each other.
The
less intense are
more harmonious when

less intense are
closely associated.
Those
still
the best backgrounds for the exploitation
46
THE DECORATIVE IDEA

more intense ones. The small areas of intense colour show best and are strongest in their emphasis against the more neutralized ones of the complementary
of the
colour.
Concrete instances of the application of the complementary scheme to specific rooms will be given during the discussion of such rooms in later chapters. As a working basis, however, it is essential to know the terms employed, and to recognize the use and misuse of these fundamental methods of creating colour harmonies. A third type, still under the head of harmony of This scheme incontrast, is called the triad scheme. volves the choice and use of three colour tones selected from the spectrum based on the equilateral triangle
and
requires an intricate knowledge of neutralization, It is a localization of areas, and emphasis distribution.

it
scheme too
tal
first
difficult to explain clearly in this
fundamen-
treatment of colour.
The two types of harmony discussed are those most generally in use and are
ordinary problems
if
sufficient for all
understood and
applied. All are not alike sensitive to colour appeal. Each one of us differs from all others in how much or
what will give us just sufficient stimulation. It is a constant source of psychological interest to adjust to each person's taste and needs the colours used. This
an individual problem and can be solved successfully only when the decorator sees first the person whose tastes and needs are to be consulted. The question of materials must next be considered, and then the decorais
tor
must bring
forces.
into use all his knowledge of colour In this way he will arrive at the best result
47
INTERIOR DECORATION
both as regards the pleasure and comfort of his client and the further growth of his own colour appreciation. There is still one element of power which a colour
tone possesses that it may be well to consider at this By the arrangement of the spectrum circuit, point. yellow, being the nearest to light or white, is the lightest
normal colour in value.
It
is
the
first
colour tone in
sequence of values running
and purple on one
side,
from yellow to green, blue and from yellow, orange and red
to purple on the other. Purple is the darkest in value of the normal coloui
Black, being the absence of light and the absence of colour, is darkness, while purple approaches this blackness more nearly than
tones and the nearest to black.
any
other.
is
the opposite element of darkness or shadow; therefore, yellow contains the greatest lighting power
Light
any normal spectrum colour. While orange and green are of the same value in the spectrum circuit,
of
orange has a greater lighting power because of the introduction of red, which is a greater light producer than
blue.
The
shall call luminosity,
order, then, of this light-giving quality, which I may be stated as follows: yellow,
orange, green, red, blue, and purple. The luminosity of a colour is worchy of consideration
where the amount of light which a matter for conservation. This would also be important when a light room is so glaringly
in interior decoration
the
room
receives
is
bright that it is impossible to obtain desired results in colour keying. At the normal maturity point the relative luminosity
48
THE DECORATIVE IDEA

of colours runs approximately as follows: yellow 12;
orange 9; green 7; red 5; blue 3; and purple 1. While these numbers are not exact, they are near enough for
practical purposes in determining has on the choice of colour.
what effect luminosity
Artificial light, shining through a yellow shade lined with white, has a much more penetrating and far-reaching effect than the same light shining through a green shade lined with white, the textures of the material being the same. If blue or purple were used, the lighting effect would be greatly lessened, in fact it would be in the above mentioned ratio, were the colours of nor-
mal hue and
intensity.
If purple is used, particularly
blue purple, with artificial light, representing nearly a yellow orange, the light not only fails to do its work
an illuminating agent, but it becomes neutralized, grayed, softened and destroyed. Any one interested in seeing results of this quality
as
power should experiment with different full intense colours and the same light, noticing the effect of each upon adjacent objects in the room. It must also be
observed that the quality of the light filtered through these different colour tones is changed or modified greatly in hue and value, and also frequently in intensity, thereby creating a new light which will in turn modify the colours of all objects upon which it shines.
Far too
colour as
little
it is
care
is
given to the selection and use of
A knowledge
production of
ing from to a right choice of colour schemes.
by lighting. of the principles of relationship, resulta study of hue, value and intensity is the key
It will insure the 49
affected
any colour
effect desired.
INTERIOR DECORATION
of upsetting completely the room scheme of the wrong colour in a lamp shade, the use the by wrong window hangings, or any other thing through which light is filtered, is increased tenfold when the
The danger
background is too intense in colour. Remember that the background of a room must be less intense than the objects which are to appear against it, or the objects
themselves lose their force as decorative things. It is well probably to notice here a reason for the one striking difference between a warm and cold background
in its general colour effect. All good decorators and artistic people in general know that there is a pleasanter general aspect in a room
where the background is keyed to yellow or orange rather than to green or blue; that is if the background is gray, or so nearly so that it seems to be gray. It is difficult if the gray is a blue gray, or in other words a neutralized blue, to get between the objects of furniture and the room a general effect of colours keyed together.
On the other hand, if the gray
gray, be it this colour itself an invitation to furnishing objects to become a part of the general scheme of colour.
a yellow gray or orange never so nearly neutral, there seems to be in

is
This
falls
is
due to two
facts: first, all
into the
warm side of the
naturally spectrum, highly neutral-
wood
Floors are usually treated in warm colour, and often many of the other decorative colours in the room
ized.
are on the
warm side of the spectrum.
This establishes
common element or a relationship which at once invites harmony. If into such a room blues or greens are
introduced, it is usually in upholstery, hangings, rugs, or other decorative features, and one can afford to em60
THE DECORATIVE IDEA

phasize the decorative feature by exactly that contrast, while the constructive features would outline in an ugly
manner against the background if the same contrast were introduced in their case. Another reason why the warm tones are in general more satisfactory is that the kind of reflected light which they radiate as natural light, which is very often cool, It also cold, and forbidding, is reflected from them. simplifies keying with shades when artificial lighting is
required.
This explanation will

feels
make
it
easier for
any one who
the lack of relationship existing between furnishings and background to select or treat backgrounds in such a way that the furnishings of the room are more
harmonious.
They may thus without

scheme of unity
effort
into the general
in colour
be drawn which every
good room must express. There is one other aspect of colour that we must touch
upon here so that the thought of colour as it relates to the decorative idea may be more nearly complete. If,
however, each subject were explained and illustrated in all its possible phases, it would require a separate volume. History is a record of the lives or activities of peoples of an earlier time and of the civilization they have
evolved.
It
is
expressed in literature, music, architec-
ture, sculpture, mrniture, textiles, and also in the lesser crafts. Its art expression has been unlike in different
eras,
and quite dissimilar in the case of diverse nations, while individuals of the same nation have frequently
distinct variations.
shown
Perhaps the national feeling for a type of expression may be as easily seen in colour as in any form of expres51
INTERIOR DECORATION
sion.
How
this national preference,
when
acting with
historical or decorative styles, sideration. Now, however, it
other concrete forces, has produced periods in art and is a matter for later conis
pertinent to see some-
thing of the way colour has expressed the standardized quality of feeling which a nation possessed at the time
the period form was crystallized. The people of the Spanish Peninsula have for
many
centuries been quite unmixed, since the Moorish inDifferent ideals vasion, with races of different blood.
and customs, native instincts, climatic conditions, partial isolation and the religious and social practices of these people have all tended to establish and maintain certain unbroken traditions in all forms of expression. The result of traditional living, inherited and promoted by environment, tends to establish a national
recognize the extreme fondness of such races for intense colours and almost
temperament.
We
all
spectrum circuit. The use of yellow, red, and orange to excite the already infuriated bull is one of the visible manifestations of the conscious knowledge on the part of the people of the effect on the animal instinct of these warm colour combinations. Colour is a stimulant to the
sesthetic sense.
is
always colours on the
warm
side of the
stimulated by
certain that this race of people these colours more than by cold colours;
It
is
hence the choice of red, yellow, gold, orange,

so
etc., in
much of the art expression of The natives of Italy are a
their period styles. far less homogeneous
Southern Italy so thoroughly people. as to be almost a part of Greece itself,

52
Greek at times and influenced
always by the Orient and the African Barbary states
O
3
P-
8s
B
o B
I I
W c o
9 Q * o < " E H W 05 3 fc w o o 3 F H H 05 co O o B o <i B ^

'
a C o
fc" 1
s g
<J
538
5
^
j| B
!^
^ H S 2 O o O
B -SO
M !-ii O HH !Z H
J-J
o 6 o o o H 2 5 H O 02 M a P^ Q W O H Z co * S ^ ^ ^CO PH H ^ 2 h^ A |3 s 7| H S H C H h4
g"
2 2
gGo*
_i^
55
-<
--
i 55 h
ll
THE DECORATIVE IDEA

has the Oriental colour ideas prevailing in
its earlier
art expressions as well as in its colour choice of to-day. Northern Italy, on the contrary, less influenced by the
Greek and the Orient, less mixed in blood with those countries, more open always to invasion from the north, and more blended and involved with the Teutonic
It peridea, has developed a love for cooler colours. haps exhibits a wider range, or at least a more refined
conception of relationships in values and intensities. French consciousness combines the colour preferences of more peoples, gathered from a broader range
There is also a of area, and a wider scope in kind. native tendency to amalgamate these in a greater degree than among any other living people. France,
always susceptible to new forms of expressing the aesthetic idea, gave birth to and developed Gothic thought, accepted and digested the Italian Renaissance, and developed its own distinct period styles. It destroyed the monarchic expression of those styles and built a new republic which has inexhaustible mines of art wealth accumulated since the tenth century to draw upon as an adequate means of expressing modern ideas. This explains why the French have long been supreme in the realm of the fine arts as well as in the applied or
practical arts of life. They are adepts in the solution of problems of artistic expression in furnishings, clothing, and the use of accessory objects.
The qualities of the English are so at variance with the French that but to mention their character and
their ideals produces in the
conception. One is reminded that have made the English
mind quite a different at once of those qualities

styles less flippant, less 53
INTERIOR DECORATION
changeable, less erratic in value change, more general
hue appreciation and more sombre in intensity reany of the other nations that we have mentioned. In like manner, it would be simple enough to see why the Netherlands, Flanders, Germany, or any other country has developed a special liking for or tendency to the use of some particular gamut of colour. The reason for the choice is always found in the quality of
in
lation than those of
the consciousness of the people who are to use colour. One instinctively selects that symbol in any field which most clearly illustrates or describes the idea which
he wishes to convey. If a highly neutralized colour is more restful than a more intense one, and I desire rest, when intense colours and neutralized ones are before
select the neutralized one. It is, of I realize the that force of the course, implied symbol.
me, I instinctively
If light,
bright blues, pinks,
and yellows express
anything, they express light-hearted, youthful, rather When flippant and old-fashioned feminine attributes.
looks about for a colour scheme for his library, den, or sleeping-room, he instinctively leaves such things alone. They do not express his qualities, nor those
man
with which he desires to concern himself when he wishes to concentrate on his work, or to sleep and rest. We, the people of the United States of America,
amalgamate the characteristics of any people, received all peoples with open arms, until we are a nation one hundred million strong and represent nearly every form and grade of civilization.
are the most conglomerate of without having had time to
all
peoples.
We
have,
Naturally
we
are a people of
many
minds,
many
54
THE DECORATIVE IDEA

with distinctively individual and peculiar qualiOur national colour exties, striving to be a nation. pression can be nothing short of every colour available. We do not limit ourselves in any other field. We cannot limit ourselves in the range of colours used. Because this is true, it is of the greatest importance that we seek to understand from every possible source what qualities may be expressed by different combinations, and learn to use those combinations to express individual ideas in moderation and with discretion. But even this is not the most important thing to
ideas,
know.
A people is mentally
and
ethically
is
intellectually,
and that means morally, made up of its inherited
taken into consciousness through the five senses. Environment is a mighty factor in the development of a people whose esthetic sense is commensurate with the task before them of maintaining a commercial relationship which is thrust upon them by the very nature of their existence. Not only must we have the aesthetic quality in order that it may appear in our products, but we demand this quality as a natural means of refinement and culture .Its function is to satisfy the inherent desire for beauty which nature has decreed shall be a part of man's general makeup. To historic periods, then, we must turn not only to
tendencies and whatever
know
their structural forms, their decorative ideas,
and
their finished art objects, as scientifically, logically
but to understand their colour
and sensibly as we know their other forms of expression. To express the Tudor period in the colours of Louis XVI is as impossible a task as it would be for Queen Elizabeth to impersonate Marie
Antoinette.
5
PART
CHAPTER
II
THE PRINCIPLES OF FORM AND THEIR RELATION TO THE DECORATIVE IDEA
THE term "design" has generally meant the choice and

arrangement of certain shapes or forms to produce a decorative effect. It should include not only form but colour, or rather colour and form, for without colour there is no form. If all objects were exactly the same colour tone it would be impossible to see where one object left off and the other began. In fact, there would be no shapes or forms to discuss. The greater the colour contrast
in hue, value, or intensity, or
qualities, the more clearly ment which these objects produce. The real recognition of form is a mental process, and it is sufficient to remark here that this is a compar-
any two or three of these defined is the form arrange-
ison of previously acquired ideas. perceived through the sense of
Form
sight
is
not quickly
colour.
like
This makes the study of form more involved and perhaps, in many cases, less easily understood at
first.
Design or composition includes, then, the choice and arrangement of colours, forms and lines with a unit as the desired result. This unit may be the exterior of a
huge cathedral, the

56
interior of
any room, the individual
THE PRINCIPLES OF FORM

unit used in
any one
of these, or
whatever in
itself
ex-
presses the unit idea.
the decorated things. The build or structure determines the form. The form, then, conversely, is the result of structural lines of certain kinds used in certain combinations to represent individual ideas. When we realize that everything deis
As has already been noted, the

all
structure
fundamental reason for
pends upon the structural idea it is much easier to see relationships between shapes or forms in furnishing construction and the room in which they are to be used, than if we see parts of furnishing objects or colours or
decorations only. An Italian chair of the early fifteenth century is built on horizontal and vertical lines. Its construction
its
it depends upon and its consistent exquisite proportion, simplicity, decorative additions. In no field of chair construction
is
rectangular and for

its
its
beauty
has there been a result so dignified, formal, stable, consistent, sincere, and architecturally connected with the house as this beautiful expression of the early
Italian Renaissance.
The very
lines or structure of
this chair repeat the lines of room construction. The same fine feeling for proportion, structural likeness, simplicity and consistency is found in the cabinets,
tables,
and other objects
of furniture during this period

like these it is
easy enough to recognize an element harmonizing with the structure of a room, its side walls, its floor and its ceiling.
of expression.
With objects
Louis
the other hand, with furniture of the period of in France, where the boundary of every structural part is a curved line of the most subtle char-
On
XV
57
INTERIOR DECORATION
acter, it
is
far
more
difficult to establish relations of
harmony between it and the constructive lines of a modern house. It is the character, or kind of line which bounds these forms, that I ask you to notice
particularly now. Very often textiles, wall covers
and other objects
present exactly the same difficulty. A chair is to become a decorative motif in a room as a background, or a piece of ornament is to become a decorative motif
on a
textile
rug or article of furniture.
ing or by its structural lines it the room, with the articles of furniture, and with the
Either by placmust harmonize with
textile or other object upon which it is to appear as a decorative unit. Often harmonious motifs are wholly
unrelated to the object upon which they are placed, and become glaringly undecorative because their entire line
or form effect has no
line in
common harmonizing elemental concord with the article which it purports to

is
decorate.
It will be seen that the structure
the reason for the
decoration, that the decoration must conform to the structure, and that there must be a common element of
harmony between the

object used with
it.
original
form and the decorative
The first principle of form I shall call consistent structural unity. The fagade of a house is an excellent example for structural and decorative study. The vertical
and horizontal
lines
bounding
it
at least on
two of
these sides are emphasized, supported and strengthened by cornices. There is a change in treatment at the
edges, brought about by the introduction of doors and windows whose structures are in harmony with that of
58

the side of the house, and sometimes with other objects related in the same way.
only, however, are these objects related by their general form to the house, of which they are a part, but
Not
they are, if pleasing, so placed, when seen in groups, that their bounding lines are horizontal and vertical. When this form does not obtain for example, if there is one window, then another, and then another lower there is a feeling of incongruity and unpleasantstill ness arising from an arrangement which does not harmonize with the general structure form of the facade.
Brought into the house the application of these Most persons see and feel quickly principles is legion. the violation of such a rule on the outside, but fail utterly to grasp the need of the same relationship on the
inside.
Let us take
first
the floor of the room.
This
is
an
oblong or a square, infrequently modified by a curved window or some other curved line of unnatural growth.
This establishes something of the line of the furniture, but something still more of the arrangement of this furplace on the floor. Now let us consider the rug. A common error is to throw the rug particularly if there are several in the
niture as to
its
room
upon the floor in an oblique or cat-a-cornered position so that no line boundary of the rug is parallel to or This in harmony with the bounding lines of the floor.
immediately establishes a new decorative idea, built on top of the original one. Chairs, tables, divans and other furniture must be placed either with the structural suggestion of the rugs, or with the original structural arrangement of the room. Both lines cannot be followed.
59
INTERIOR DECORATION
One must dominate. The only sensible thing is to place the rugs in harmony with the structure of the
floor; then let the tables, divans, chairs, cabinets and other articles of furniture be placed in the same horizontal and vertical structural relationship.
This does not mean that every article of furniture has to rest against the wall of the room, flat and straight. It means that many times the furniture had better so
For example, instead of placing the upright repose. the dresser across the corner of the room, find or piano
a place on the wall where it belongs and place it there, structurally, as if it were a part of the establishment. It then becomes a decorative feature. Often a long table is best, as will appear in a later chapter, when its end touches the wall and its length On one side a divan may be projects into the room. placed, its back against the table. This conforms to the
structural lines of the room, horizontal and vertical, at the same time is perfectly practical.
and
Chairs particularly straight-line chairs when not against the wall may be placed parallel with tables, and grouped in such a way that their general structure lines
are parallel with the original horizontal
lines of the
and
vertical
room. It is this matter of grouping wisely that makes a room effective so far as the form relations
in the furniture are concerned.
This does not, by any means, imply that every article must be at right angles with the lines of the room and with each other. It means that the dominating furnishings of a room must be so related, or the principle of the room as a structural unit is violated. When this happens the foundation is laid for unrest,
of furniture
60

pandemonium and an ultimate destruction of everything pleasant in the way of a decorative thought.
Chairs are often placed near other chairs or a divan, for purposes of conversation, or these are grouped near a light in order to make work possible as well as reading
These deviations from structural unity are, It is because of some need that they exist and not because the arrangement is more "homey and cozy." If everything is properly distributed on the floor it helps greatly in the treatment of the wall. The vertical lines of the wall when seen with the horizontal lines of the floor form a new problem of arrangement. The
or writing.
however, made for a reason.
more nearly opposite the eye level when or standing and, therefore, require even a stricter sitting adherence to the principle of structural unity than does the floor.
walls, too, are
Even if each article of furniture is properly placed, one must be careful to see that its contour or bounding lines do not create forms more erratic and likely to compel
attention than do the objects themselves as a whole. If this is the case their bounding lines must be simplified
be taken off, unpleasant carving removed. Expressionless curved bracketing, such as appears on piazzas, and much modern furniture should In a room the objects themselves also be banished. must be reduced to a consistent structural appearance before they can become in any sense a part of the wall.
Grills
somehow.
may
departure from this structural form if desired is easily made by using ornament, books, pottery, and other lesser forms of art expression upon articles of furniture or adjacent to them.
The question
of
how many
61
INTERIOR DECORATION
of these to use at a time
and how many
what ones
are appropriate will
pictures, and be considered in later
Suffice it to say, now, that whatever is used chapters. should either be structurally in harmony with all the other
objects, or there should be few enough articles non-structurally related to make it possible for one to grasp the
room and to remain content without a mental effort to fathom the mysteries of the constant maze into which he is thrust as he enters. Perhaps the most flagrant abuse of the structural idea
feeling of the
the custom, so long prevalent, of hanging pictures by one wire, each end of which is attached to the frame, while both sides converge, at a point where the picture
is
hook
attached to the moulding. Any line which is out of harmony with the structural idea of the unit should be so for purposes of emphasis. When any unusual line, unusual shape, or unusual direction is introis
for the purpose of calling attention to that line, shape or direction because of its beauty or its use. There can certainly be no other reason for calling attenit is
duced
will
any particular thing in a room. Since the room probably have no lines in harmony with the triangular one thus created, and since the picture hook is
tion to
presumably
the picture itself (though this is not always true), there can be no reason why such a line should be introduced at the expense of
less
decorative
than
the entire wall, to say nothing of the constructive value of the picture itself.
A single picture wire should be passed through two hooks about one inch from the top of the picture to be hung. This wire, passing through the two screw eyes, will leave the two ends free and the wire adjustable.
62

Use two picture hooks, tying one to each end of the wire and hang the wires vertically. They will then be parallel with the edge of the frame, with the casings of
the windows, doors and other structural features of the room. In this way even ugly picture wires almost es-
cape notice. If they do not they should be toned to the general wall colour.
Window
lines
curtains very
much draped
create
many
out of harmony with the windows. This is the reason why under present conditions the best decorators are modifying considerably the period methods of hanging curtains, and using them straighter, with straighter valance and less erratic line combinations in the making. This principle of structural unity must be applied to the selection and arrangement of every article, and violations of the idea may after the meaning of the be considered for principle is thoroughly understood reasons of emphasis but study how, and why and where before introducing any unrelated forms in matters of
;
decorative structural arrangement. A second principle of form is that shapes and sizes should be consistent. Its analysis has to do with the
selective element in
form and
size as well as
of arranging these selected forms in the
the problem most harmoni-
ous and agreeable manner possible. The bounding edges of forms or shapes are lines. These lines are made always at the junction of two colour tones or are formed by one colour touching another. Wherever this occurs a line is created. Every time colour tones change for any reason whatever, a
new shape
is
begun or the shape considered begins to

exists.
change and a lined condition
63
INTERIOR DECORATION
Lines, as well as forms, are an important element in Good composition the consideration of composition.
demands that these forms and lines should contain certain elements of likeness or harmony, and that they be
so placed as to create this condition. It is apparent then that too many colours, too much cut up in small areas, must result in the creation of too
many shapes and lines. This tends to involve the problem in such a way that simplicity and repose in a room
is
well nigh impossible. The kind of shapes and the direction of lines are as
important as the number of them. Straight lines, which mark the shortest distance between two points, by their very nature seem simple, direct, forceful and somewhat structural. These qualities are the ones which the straight-line formation or construction should suggest, and where the feeling for them is not acute it is because
arrangement, as well as of pattern design, meet each other at obtuse and acute angles in such a way as to create a disagreeable feeling of opposition in line direction. Patterns in rugs and textiles often do this, as, in fact, the objects themselves are quite likely to do
lines of
in the
room arrangement
that
is,
in
which the
first
principle of
is
form
consistent structural unity followed. scientiously
not condi-
This effect of straight
lines
running in a slanting
is
rection into other straight lines angles created are right angles
excepting where the
ugly, non-structural and, consequently, usually uncomfortable in feeling
Curved lines change their direction at every point. There are in general three classes of these lines, as
follows
64
:

arc of the circle changes its direction equally This is the most monotonous of curved at every point.
lines,
The
the simplest and most easily sensed. It lacks variety, and when used too frequently betrays lack of
is
feeling for subtlety in line. The arc of the ellipse, however,

its
more
likely to
direction at different points in the circumchange ference, and presents a selective chance in line quite impossible in the arc of the circle. It is interesting,
therefore,
sibility.
more
subtle,
and has greater

is
sesthetic pos-
The
third class of curve
taken from the oval, and
presents the greatest opportunity of all for fine relationships in variety of curve subtlety and in feeling for
direction as well as for grace in line movement. This curve of the oval appears in pottery
and vase in other and ornament, constructive curve-lined objects in the work of all nations where a fine sesthetic sense has been developed.
forms, in the general contour of
The Greek, the Japanese, the High Renaissance in France, express their subtle relationships of curve in
this
type of
line.
Mention
of these three classes of curves
is
made
it
here that one
may become more

The keener
sensitive to line as
appears in ornament and as it marks the boundary structural line of objects which are to be used as decorative motifs.
in
one's perception becomes
any field of expression the sooner will he realize the difference between the beautiful and the ugly, the
sesthetic
subtle.
and the mechanical, the monotonous and the This perception is the key to the enjoyment of
65
sesthetic relationships.
INTERIOR DECORATION
Forms, as they are created by
lines,
may also be char-
acterized as straight-lined and curve-lined forms. The wall surface, the floor and the ceiling are generally of
the
first
type.
Some
articles of furniture, pieces of
and other ornament are of the and not class, infrequently a curved line in the form of an alcove, a bay window or arched ceiling
pottery, pictures, clocks
second
forms a secondary consideration in a straight-lined

figure.
forms have a likeness which is more apparent than their difference, they at once become harmonious.
When
A square or rectangle is
two
straight lines with four right angles, the only difference being that the square has four equal sides while the oblong has
bounded by four
pairs of equal sides, each pair differing other.
from the
oblong in a vertical position, like the side of a room, which is taller than its length, or a blank wall space between windows or adjacent to a door opening with a height exceeding its width, furnishes an opportunity for experiment with related and unrelated
shapes.
An
A picture, for example, taller than it is wide, is a vertical oblong. Place it at equal distances from each of the sides of your wall space and about opposite the eye level, and you will sense a likeness in the ratio of the sides of the picture to the sides of the oblong space in which it is placed. This is related, harmonious and comfortable,
if
its size is
good, in the space
upon which it appears. In the same position place a square picture and
the effect
is
little less
pleasing, unless adjacent to or

some way related with it are other squares so that distinctive form is not so apparent. If one happens to have an elliptical picture and a round one, or even an elliptical vase, and a round clock, he should try each of these in the same position. He will see that the ellipse with a long vertical axis is more
in
its
harmonious with the vertical space than if he should turn the ellipse so that the long axis would be horiIn that case one feels the opposition of the zontal. horizontal axis to the vertical line of the boundary space, and rebels against that structural motion, right
and
left,
which
wall space. a horizontal oblong picture in the same space. The circle, the most monotonous of curve-lined
figures,
opposed to the vertical one of the This would be equally true, of course, of
is
whose circumference changes its direction at every point equally, has no quality in common with
the vertical wall space. It is, therefore, quite unrelated to it as a decorative spot unassociated with other ob-
were exactly, square, the round picture or clock would have the relationship of equal diameters and not be so inharmonious as in the vertical
jects.
If the wall space
shape.
hard, however, to harmonize in any way a round clock, round picture, round medallion or other circular object upon the wall. If a round picture must be used,
It
is
mat
it with the most inconspicuous tone, relate this tone to the frame, and make both mat and frame square
so that the environment of the picture mony with its background. The wall
itself
may
be in har-
and the picture the into circle the square by such stages graduate of colour that the transition becomes almost, if not
67
INTERIOR DECORATION
The harder or more distinct entirely, unobservable. the line transition, the less possibility of harmony in the result.
It
is
on the wall
in particular that
we must avoid
these totally unrelated shapes. On a mantel, a cabNot being inet, or a bureau such forms may appear.
fastened to the wall, and no attempt being made to have them seem to be a part of it, they become decorative as seen against it, because they are supported by and related to the thing upon which they stand, rather
than to the wall
itself.
The
wall, then, is the
background, not a part of
the object which is seen decoratively against it. Its foundation or resting-place rather is the thing with which the object belongs.
A point might be made here in regard to the position

and tapestries on the wall. Unless the of sufficient size to nearly cover the wall, so tapestry that it seems to be a part of it, there should be some
of pictures
is
article of furniture or structural fact
seem to group.
of pictures.
'This is
with which it may even more essential in the case
If a picture is hung so high that it seems to be unrelated to the cabinet, dresser, mantel, chair or other
it immediately becomes a foreign object apnailed to a vertical surface. This is uncomor plied
object,
fortable,
and usually is not decorative, particularly if the picture is heavily framed. It should be hung low enough to be related to an article of furniture and to
form some part of a group. The single isolated idea is always more or less uncomfortable and certainly unconspicuous in most instances. duly "
68

The contour
of furniture
is
a subject properly
re-
lated to the idea of consistent forms.
It often occurs
that both straight-lined and curve-lined furniture are essential to the spirit of a modern room.
In no period except that of Louis XV has a furniture construction been worked out in which every construcIn this period straight-lined structive line is a curve. ture was unknown and curved lines were brought to their
highest possible state of efficiency as expressions of
refined
and
then, chair
is
chair, composition. A Louis in unrelated its form to the Louis XVI totally
artistic
XV
whose seat and back
frequently gives us chairs period of Louis in which the seats are curved, the top of the back shows
The
may XVI
ellipse,
be rectangular.
while the entire back is a curve-lined figure, although the legs are vertical and straight and the general feeling is one of an upright, reccircle or
an arc of a
an
tangular object. There is an element of likeness between these last chairs described and the Louis XV, which under right conditions makes them harmonious and delightful together.
If the perfectly straight-lined, rectan-
Louis
gular Louis XVI chair is the only one in the room, the chair can hardly be said to be closely enough
XV
related to be probable in such a combination. The simplest expression is the one in which one type The of form is not only dominant but preeminent.
Renaissance, with its formal, stately, upright chairs; with cabinets, every line of which is straight, vertical and horizontal; with spacing and
early
Italian
arrangement in which vertical and horizontal line forms are the only ones used, while other articles of furniture are based upon the same plan, gives one a
69
INTERIOR DECORATION
chance to see what is really the effect of a room in which only one general form is considered. The same idea has been exploited in this country during the last twenty-five years under the name of the "Mission Style." This Mission Style is the return to the straight-lined structural construction by a people completely worn out and exhausted, having their
vision
artistic
bedimmed by the meaningless,
erratic
and
in-
curves of the black-walnut period. In sheer self-defence they have intuitively grasped at the Mission
especially beautiful in proportion, practical or decorative in its effect, but because there must be some way to rid the country of the jigidea,
it is
not because
saw bracketing of the modern wooden house. A maze of grill work had found its way into the interior, over doors, mantels, mirrors, etc., and it was necessary to eliminate the atrocities in curve-lined furniture, which factories were turning out under the impression that something original was being done. The Mission Style has done its work and is passing, but it is worthy of special mention since it has called
related forms are essential to to the attention of this country the fact that simple good taste in the expression of the interior of an ordinary house.
One must
consider also in this connection the line
formations due to ornament, abstract and otherwise, used decor atively in textiles and rugs. I have already
your attention to the impossible medallions of various shapes which occur too often in Oriental rugs. These forms are unrelated to the rug shape and to furniture shapes, and, in short, to everything with which they are associated. Because they are always
called 7D

more or
less ugly in themselves, they must either not all or, if they do appear, must be so subdued at appear that their outline is discerned with the greatest difficulty.
It sometimes happens that a round table must be used in a room. This is possible from the standpoint of function, in the dining-room, if over the table there is a decorative circular ceiling treatment, a circular chandelier if chandeliers are used or a curve-lined rug which may help to harmonize such a table with the In this case the colours straight-lined floor effect. chosen should be such that the transition in shape from table to floor will be less apparent because of the rug. If, however, the transition created is hard and apparent, then the rug pattern would better be of the floor shape since
gives no help in harmonizing unrelated forms. It may not be necessary to mention that a square
it
lunch cloth on a round table is less harmonious than a round one, or that a round one on a square table is less harmonious than a square cloth. There are many
other interesting applications of this rule to every article that may be decoratively used, but the reader will find interest in detecting things for himself and
correcting the seem better to
wrong usages as fast as the him than the wrong ones.
right ones
The second
relates to consistent size,
application of this principle, that which is more difficult to treat in a
limited space. It has taken centuries for the Japanese to produce a national consciousness in which the feeling
for the best
tuitive.
and most subtle
relationships hi size
is
in-
The Greeks gave one thousand years of concentrated thought to finding the best way to develop
71
INTERIOR DECORATION
God was and was in whose truth its beauty beauty, highest form, presents, as no other people ever has, the tangible effects of a nation working unitedly for a common end
namely, the realization, intellectually, of pure form. The Greek ideal brought out an art expression, particularly in architecture and ornament, whose essential principles have been fundamental in the development of all succeeding expression, except perhaps the Gothic, which is the result of an entirely different ideal. So effectually was their scheme of education planned from
ideal pure form, not only in the human figure, phases of expression. This people, whose
but
in all
youth to old age, and so carefully was the religious, political and social fabric woven, that these people became imbued with the one idea of creating beauty, which was the expression of divinity in its noblest form. To create or use an ugly thing was impossible with this code of life. Because of the psychological result which followed such training, the subtleties in shape and size of parts expressing a whole are still the criterion for architects and constructional designers in all fields of
expression involving the classic idea. From buildings, architectural details,
ornament,
sculpture and the lesser crafts has come, quite consciously through the Renaissance, down to us the Greek
relations in size
which
really furnished the
key to their
special excellence.
Greek art, unlike that of other nations, is not an emowhich forms, lines and colours excite the aesthetic sense without thought; every size, shape and arrangement is the product first of an intellectual calculation. That is what has made it possible to get at, sometional one in
72

what scientifically, the relationships in size which made the Greek objects standards upon which other nations
have based their ideas of proportion. In the days of the High Renaissance in Italy Leonardo da Vinci and other great artists worked out, by measurements and by copy and by analytical and synthetical methods, certain statements of proportion which are One in particular has been helpful in modern times. known as the Golden Mean, the Greek Law, the Greek Deduction or the Ideal Proportion. This, of course, is an abstract idea, and to abstract
spacing applies hi finding out interesting relationships. This statement of proportion originated in the ratio of the diameter of the top of the Doric or Ionic column to the diameter of its base, in the relative widths of spaces in the frieze of the Parthenon and other Greek temples, in the proportions of the various well-known ornaments, the vertical to the horizontal proportions, and even to the
calculation of the proportions of the ideal
human figure.
divisions, like the half, third, fourth, eighth, are etc., mechanical, are easily measured in inches, and
Exact
easily grasped
by the mind. Having no subtlety they lack the one feature that stimulates the imagination and lends interest to the object.
The
idea of variety, which

all artistic
is
a consistent one,
is
fun-
damental in
in business,
field, of
things.
Training in schools or
which leads to a constant creation, in any purely mechanical things, blunts and stunts the
aesthetic perception, destroying the ability to enjoy subtle
relationships.
The first point to note in this law is the fact that mechanical divisions are not artistic ones. That halves,
73
INTERIOR DECORATION
ones, and therefore, monotonous, so that the habitual consideration of them must result ultimately in a loss of power to appreciate
thirds
and fourths are mechanical
more subtle
ones.
step in the evolution of the idea reveals that in the case of two objects, very unlike in size, each
The second
becomes more pronounced because of its association with the other. A very tall man seen with an exceedingly short one not only seems taller than he otherwise would, but by comparison makes the short man seem shorter than if he were seen by himself. Wherever these great contrasts occur, the mind fails to make any comparison between the two objects, sees no relationship whatever, and fails to feel satisfied. If they are totally unrelated they cannot be a part of a
unit or a whole.
The
applications of this idea are
legion in the choice of articles for the furnishing of a
house.
third step is the perception of when it is that sizes or areas are nearly enough alike to be easily com-
The
pared by the mind and sufficiently differing in size to be This is the most interesting because of their difference.
vital point in the evolution of the idea. If a vertical oblong, say four and one-half inches high
and two and three-fourths inches wide,
divided exactly in areas are created which are monotonous, mechanical
drawn and the centre by a horizontal line, two

is
On another oblong of the same prohorizontal a line may be drawn five-eighths portion of an inch from the bottom. Two areas will be created which are incomparable, inconsistent, unlike in their direction and inartistic in their feeling. If a third oband uninteresting.
74

long be drawn and the exact centre of the right-hand edge found, so that the right-hand vertical line is divided into two equal parts, then this same line divided into thirds, we have a basis for a horizontal-line division
and interesting areas for comparison. Select a point somewhere between the hah and third. It must not be a point exactly in the centre between the two, nor one which would divide the figure into thirds or quarters. The division must come at some uneven distance between the half and
which
will result in subtle
FIG.
FIG. IE
FIG.!
I.
II.
III.
Two areas equal and monotonous Two areas unrelated and incomparable Two areas subtle, comparable and interesting
into
Then draw a horizontal line dividing this oblong two areas which are not equal, but which are so related as to seem comparable when seen together. These area divisions may be used in many ways in
third.
designing fagades of buildings, in the interior panelling of houses, and parts of doors and windows. They should be considered also with reference to the relations of
these to each other, to furniture
and
its
proportions and
75
INTERIOR DECORATION
to decorative motifs as they are used or textile.
upon any
furniture
The Greek law
of areas or lines
may be approximately
stated in these words:
"Two areas or lines are compara-
ble, interesting, subtle and desirable when one of them is between one-half and two-thirds the area or length of
the other."
Any one interested in seeing the application of this idea to concrete things will find plenty of opportunity for comment and disapproval in the relation of windows
to wall space
when
function would admit of a different
arrangement; in the placing of plate rails in a room; in the widths and positions of dadoes; in the bands of
rugs; in rugs as they relate to floor space; in panels on cabinets, chests and other articles of furniture; in motifs whose parts are totally unrelated because of badly
lamp bases with their shades, and other articles in every room in which the owner has never given a thought to subtle relationships. If more than two sizes are compared a ratio may be established between the smaller of the first two compared and a third size which is to be used. One of the most pleasing and simple applications of this rule is seen in a well-margined book page where the
sizes; in dishes, in
chosen
law of optics requires the widest margin at the bottom, the next at the outside, and narrower ones at the top and inside, thus presenting four well-related sizes in a field in which every one is interested and where the most uncultivated can see the result and sense its correct application.
We might extend the discussion to the relation of the

size of the table
cover to the table top, the position of
76

the band to the edge of the china plate, or to any other lesser matters, but for the further application of this principle it may be well to allow the reader to extend his
application as far as he can, in the hope of discovering new possibilities in realms not mentioned in the text.
rr
PART
CHAPTER
III
BALANCE AND MOVEMENT

SPEAKING
ment
from the standpoint
of
appearance as
it
expresses rest, repose or artistic skill, no one term means In fact, the arrangeso much as the word balance.
a perfectly balanced scheme will always result in the appearance of just

lines in
of colour tones, forms
and
these qualities named.

ciate
It
is difficult
at
first
to appre-
how important this element is in room arrangement. The term balance means a perfect equalization of
whatever the attractions
attractions,
may
be,
if
they
make an appeal through the sense which transmits them to the mind. The feeling for this quality is an instinct,
inherent because man is a part of a created whole in which there are general laws touching every element of
the universe.
of gravitation plays a certain part in optical effects, and this attracting force, pulling all matter in a
The law
one of the influences that affects the This term attraction applied to the sense of sight is balance. Where a perfect balance exists one experiences unconsciously a feeling of satisfaction which comes from a sense of rest and repose
given direction, nature of man.
is
through finished action.

Balance, then,
78
may briefly be defined as that principle

of attractions
is
by which an equalization
obtained, or
ELEGANCE.

by which a
sense of rest, repose or finished
movement
is
produced. tions has in
The
it
feeling resulting from balanced condithe quality of rest and satisfaction be-
cause nothing further having a sense appeal of attraction is presented to the mind.
There are two types of balance which

scribed.
may
be de-
first type of balance is known as bisymmetric. a side wall entirely covered with one-tone wall paper has a vertical line drawn through its centre from top to bottom, this vertical line may be said to be the bal-
The
If
ancing point for all objects right and left of this line in So long as the wall is covrelation to the wall space.
ered with one tone, no other thing appearing upon it or against it, it is in a balanced condition. That is,
there
is
nothing on one side which makes a stronger
appeal for attention than there is on the other. If one but drives a nail at the right of the line, and centres
vision
on the balancing
line,
he
is
at once invited
presence of the nail to transfer his line to the nail.
by the attention from the
If this nail becomes a picture, an ornament, an object of furniture or a person standing against or adjacent to the wall, the desire to give attention in that direction
increased proportionately to the attractive qualities of the object under consideration.

is
statement, in which a nail is placed at the right of the centre line I shall restore the equilibrium and again find my wall balanced if I drive
Returning to the
first
a nail of the same size, shape and colour exactly as far to the left of the centre line as the first one was to the right of the same line.
79
INTERIOR DECORATION
If
my
purpose in driving these nails
upon the wall two right I have again, notwithstanding my nail, completely unbalanced the wall; that is, there is something on the right that by its shape, size, colour, position and human appeal bids me look, become interested, and remain
attentive.
to arrange pictures, I find in placing one at the

is
Again, because I have placed a material thing on the right of this line, I have also added more matter
to be unconsciously attracted right side than I have to the
by gravitation to the
left.
This again, from
another standpoint, unbalances the wall and makes the right side seem heavier or more drawn down than the left. If I wish to restore balance I must place on the second nail at the left a picture exactly equal in attraction to the one placed on the right, bearing in mind, of course, that each nail is as far from the centre
line as the other.
The reason
on
for starting with the nail is not, of course, the supposition that a nail is to become a part of
the decorative scheme, but to lead the mind to see that even the nail, should it be left without a picture, or the
hole in the wall
made by the nail if not properly covered,

fig-
becomes an attracting
force, which may ultimately ure in the destruction of balance on the wall.
This centre line on a wall space is an important thing to reckon with in all cases before attempting to balance the wall. If the wall were again cleared and I should decide to put two chairs exactly alike, each equidistant from the centre line, I should have a balance. If a cabinet be placed on the line so that exactly half falls to the right and half to the left; two chairs,
80

exactly alike, one on each side of the cabinet, equidistant from the centre line and equidistant from the cornice upon the cabinet; a row of three pictures, half on either side the vertical line; at the ends of the cabinet two tall candlesticks, both alike and equidistant from the
centre; in the centre of the cabinet a well-chosen decorative jar or piece of pottery, the wall will balance, having equal attractions in size, shape, colour and
texture on each side of the vertical

of balance
is
line.
This type
known
as bisymmetric.
The natural feeling one experiences from this type of balance is one of dignity and formality first. The very fact that one sees on each side of the centre exactly the same forms, colours and textures, makes the mental
grasp of the situation easier, and consequently, in the simplest possible way, with the least mental effort, pro-
duces the effect of dignity and formal arrangement. Repose is a second feeling which must come without conscious effort. This is perhaps in part because of
the analogy between the arrangement and the law of gravitation, as it may be seen in the use of the ordi-
nary weighing
scales are
scales.
When
both pans of the weighing
empty the bar is horizontal and the scales Throw into the scale a cube of iron weighing one pound, and the scales are in motion, a diagonal Put into the position is created and rest is destroyed. other pan an iron cube of equal weight and size, and the weighing bar becomes again horizontal and the feeling of formal and dignified position returns, while
are at rest.
the mental sensation of harmony with the law of grav itation is a natural sequence.
The
side wall
arrangement described works in pre81
INTERIOR DECORATION
cisely the
same manner.
Because of our associations
with things in these relative positions they produce the We are at once more or less sensations described. affected, according to our sensitiveness, by such an ar-
rangement, and more or less require this form to produce the desired result. There are so many applications of this bisymmetric arrangement in all phases of expression that no exhaustive treatment of them can be made. It may be
suggested, however,
bisymmetric balance
that one's appreciation of the may be cultivated by searching the
facades of buildings and their gable ends for the perfect
bisymmetric arrangement. One may also arrange mantels or bureau and dresser tops in bisymmetric form,
placing furniture and decorative objects simply in these positions, creating vertical centre lines on which they
appear as balanced attractions. It will be seen in all applications of the principle that this, the simplest arrangement, requires the least subtle treatment, is a matter of intelligence rather than imagination, that it is formal enough for any condition and restful enough for any scheme. It is the easiest way out of ordinary problems of unrest in
may
arrangement. It must be admitted, however, that the constant use of bisymmetric treatment may result in a stiff effect and be a bit too formal, since it is rather monotonous and lacks in some ways the large imaginative opportunity of the more involved arrangement. The second kind of balance is known as the occult balance. This means simply a balance which is felt rather than one methodically or scientifically deter82

mined. The occult balance may, it is true, be proven to be a balanced arrangement if one knows how to estimate the attractive force of the elements used in the scheme. It is, however, in general, a matter of aesthetic sense, acute feeling, or feeling and judgment combined, which is a matter of psychologic conclusion rather than of a material calculation. With the Japanese the sense for occult balance as a national asset has been so strongly cultivated by education and environment that their compositions, whether in books, vases of flowers, architectural or
detail arrangements, unconsciously present the
most
subtle
life.
and charming occult balance known to modern:

sufficiently familiar
Those who are

of Louis
with the period
ment
to understand the arrangement of ornaused in wall panels, or the application of this

articles of furniture following the
XV
ornament to
same
structural lines, will perceive the
same
refined sense
for occult arrangement in which there is a feeling of In perfect balance on either side the vertical line.
no case is there a bisymmetric arrangement where forms, sizes, colours and textures are unlike on either side
this balance line.
There are many other interesting national expreswhich the occult arrangement is the only one evolved through highly organized artistic skill in comsions in
position. If the problem of a single wall
arrangement
is
one of
and one has the same cabinet, two chairs, two candlesticks and two or three pictures to place upon the wall, and must use them all while he may
occult balance
8$
INTERIOR DECORATION
problem becomes one of equalizing these attractions on either side the same
not use anything
vertical line.
else,
his
one chair
is
Naturally the cabinet will not balance perhaps not two. As soon as the cabinet
increased in attractiveness
by two
candlesticks,
it is
apt to balance two chairs, or one, all other things being equal. The pictures evidently must be so arranged as to assist in this equalization of attractions, or else the other walls of the room must be taken into consideration with this one, and the problem become
less
more involved. v For people who are not thoroughly

not sure when a balance
is
practised,
and
perfectly arranged, nothing helpful when arranging side walls and single surfaces than to return to the weighing scale.
is
more
In the old-fashioned steelyard there is a chance to balance idea. The horizontal bar, with its movable weight from right to left, forms a lever, with the fulcrum at the point where a hook is fastened, to which articles of various gravity are adillustrate the occult
justed for weighing purposes.

right
An iron weight is moved
and left along this bar until it exactly balances an object which is hung on the aforesaid hook. The heavier the package attached to the hook, the farther away from the fulcrum point the iron weight is moved. This weight increases in distance from the central
balancing line as the attractive power of the parcel attached to the hook increases.
Another familiar illustration of this idea in the law of gravitation is seen in the see-saw board. If a
board, alike throughout its length, is placed across a fence as a fulcrum point, so that just half of it is on
84

each side the fence,
it
rests in
a horizontal position
and is balanced. If I place a twenty-five-pound boy on one, and fail to adjust the boy or to place a weight upon the other end, the board at once loses its balanced effect and one end is thrown to the ground. If, on the other hand, I place at the same time a twenty-fivepound boy on each end, my board remains in perfect
equilibrium as truly as the board at all.
if
nothing were placed upon
My problem becomes complicated when I have a boy

pounds and one that weighs twenty-five pounds to be placed upon this board, and still I desire the board to remain in a horizontal position and at rest. If I move the board so that there is twice as much length or distance on one side the fence as on the other, and place the boy weighing fifty pounds on the shorter end, and the one weighing twenty-five pounds on the longer end, I shall find my board resumes its normal rest position and will so remain. From these two illustrations three very important
weighing
fifty
statements are derived.

First.
Equal attractions balance each other at an
equal distance from the centre. Second. Unequal attractions balance each other at
unequal distances from the centre. Third. Unequal attractions balance each other at distances which are in inverse ratio to their power of
attraction.
Applied to the side wall, this means that the stronger the object is in its power to attract, the more it tends to gravitate toward the centre or balancing line; the less attractive the object, the more it tends to recede
85
INTERIOR DECORATION
from the centre; that two objects, one of which is much more attractive than the other, to balance on a single wall must be so placed that the more attractive of the two is nearer the centre than the less attractive one, and the less attractive is nearer the corner than
the more attractive one, the exact difference apart depending upon the attractive power. This establishes
of
two boys
a balance, as has been shown in the case of the use of unequal weight and the see-saw board
wall problem usually involves
across the fence.
more than two One must begin by placobjects and sometimes many. or most the attractive nearest the ing largest, strongest centre; then the next, the next, and the next, back and forth from one side to the other of the central line, until a feeling of rest or equal attraction on either side is obThis arrangement, when it has reached a balanced condition, is the occult balance so often seen
tained.
The
and
so
little
understood.
In furnishing a room, however, one side wall is but a small part of the entire problem, and were one to take each side wall separately there would be the problem of
putting the four walls together so that the entire room is a balance as well as each separate wall. The central axis of the room is the place in which to
stand when judging the balanced arrangement. If I and my north wall is well balanced, I turn to the northwest corner, and must feel a balance between the north wall and west wall as a whole; turn to the northeast corner, the same feeling of rest should obtain as between north and east walls. If this is right, the west wall and the east wall will also balance. The
face north
86

same process, facing south, will show at once whether the room is well balanced or not. By well balanced, I do not mean the wall or the things
that are a part of it or are attached to it, but those things in the room, whether they touch the wall or not, that
seem to use that wall naturally as a background. Sometimes a small picture hung over an article of furniture or a very dark contrasting value in some maalthough in small quantity, will restore the balance where the opposite wall has a larger picture over a cabinet or piano, or where a tapestry gives a wall sufficient strength to demand a strong opposite attractive force. This prevents a feeling of tipping in the
terial,
room.
bad arrangement of pianos, especially black ones, across room corners, and the adjustment of bureaus, dressers and cabinets in the same
of the very
Some
diagonal positions are attempts to restore a balanced arrangement in the room and to connect one wall with the
This linking by an unnatural line of one wall to the other does not as a rule restore the balance but it
other.
does destroy the structural effect of the room, creating another motif entirely foreign to the original idea, and it often makes the grouping of other articles of furniture
quite impossible.
87
PART
CHAPTER
IV
EMPHASIS AND UNITY

PURPOSELY up to this time no special stress has been
laid
upon those qualities in objects which furnish the power of attraction previously mentioned. There are
several elements which in themselves attract the eye under ordinary conditions. There is probably no doubt that colour is the most attractive of all forces to the eye because colour is the only thing the eye seesforms and lines being the result of colour transition and mental comparison. Colour may be used as an attractive force in three fields, that of hue, value and intensity, and should be balanced accordingly. If one colour presents with its background a very strong contrast in intensity, this appeal may be balanced with another object which is a
stronger contrast in value. As has been shown in the chapters on colour, one estimates, consciously or unconsciously, the attractive
power
of a colour tone in each of the three fields,
hue, value and intensity, and the more one studies a balanced relation of these qualities under varying conditions, the finer
becomes
his sense of discrimination,
balance become does become a habit the pleasure resulting from balanced relationship cannot be felt
and the sooner

a habit.
Until
will the feeling for
it
88
EMPHASIS AND UNITY

by the
in the
individual, for the final test of aesthetic appeal is power of significant colour combination or of
in
form to stimulate the activity of the aesthetic sense. When objects are to appear as decorative features
colour upon a cabinet, bookcase, shelf or table, there is abundant chance for arranging two, three or five objects If there are five differing in colour, size and form. is a with two there on either side, one, objects single
arranged in such a way that there is a perfect feeling of arrangement. No finer training is possible than the arranging of such groups. If the objects differ considerably in colour, perhaps in hue and intensity, the problem is still more interesting. If there is also great variation in value the problem is too involved to grasp easily.
rest in the
Two
of the three qualities of colour
make
sufficient
contrast between objects that are to be considered as parts of a unit, and even these two should not under
general conditions be too violently contrasted. It is a good thing to cultivate the habit of seeing subtle relationships and allowing subtle relationships to do the
work under ordinary circumstances. Never use violent contrasts in any of the colour qualities except as understood emphasis necessities, or as consciously to the colour sense.
felt stimuli
A judicious use
unfits
of colour
is
is
essential, as
a judicious
use of anything else
essential, to its fullest usefulness.
An orgy of colour, like an orgy of other natural qualities,

one to appreciate its force and exhausts that force in unnecessary activity. Contrasted shapes must be balanced. A round form appearing against an oblong wall makes a stronger bid
89
INTERIOR DECORATION
for attention than
an oblong form of exactly the same area and exactly the same colour as the circular one.
of attraction added to shape must be given the oblong form before it can make as strong an appeal as the circular one or become a balance for it.
Some power
In sensing an occult balance this must be considered All other things being equal, as well as relative sizes.
objects of the
same
size present
the same attractive

brilliant
power.
Sometimes, however, a small object,
or intense in colour, may be balanced by a much larger one less intense in colour, when other attractive forces are the
same
in each.
Texture, too, has a special attraction interest. When the wall is of a soft, flat, smooth texture, and two pieces of pottery are to appear on it, one having almost exactly
the same feeling in texture as the wall and the other contrasted by being much coarser, heavier, rougher and
shape and colour are identical, the contrasted texture gives one a stronger force appeal than the other. This quality of textural difference is a matter for consideration later, but one that seriously enters into the perfect feeling for balanced arrangement.
more porous
in appearance,
even
if
size,
The
principle
known
as
movement
is,
in composition
or design, the opposite of balance
and destroys the idea

ears, shoulders,
is
which balance
hips and
creates.
When the human figure stands erect

heels in the
with the law of No effort is stand to erect when in one is this required position. The law of gravitation does the work. If the body is
laid flat
90
same vertical line it gravitation and is at rest.
in
harmony
upon the floor the same law, acting on the floor,
EMPHASIS AND UNITY

the body and the rest of the universe, makes action or Stand and ineffort on the part of man unnecessary.
cline the
if
to
body forward by throwing the left leg out as run, and the body assumes a position in which
is
there
the appearance of its being about to perform some act requiring motion. If it were to tip back of
the vertical line the same feeling would be created, and an effort be required in order to remain in this position.
figure thus posed is said to be in action. When an inclined or oblique line appears in composition with vertical and horizontal ones, the same feeling
The
motion is expressed. This is because it is out of line with gravitation and out of line with the structural ideas with which it is in composition. Hang upon the wall at the left side a definitely vertiof action or
cal striped wall paper or textile, hang at the other end of the room a textile in which there is a definitely curved line extending from top to bottom, either in the form of
the Italian or Louis
XIV
arrangement such as may Jacobean period or some modern wall papers. Look at the first illustration about halfway from the floor to the The eye naturally tends at once to follow the ceiling.
follow
vertical stripe to the ceiling; the tendency is next to it down to the floor. The eye naturally moves up and down in a straight line because it is one that
decorative motif, or of a vine be found in the textiles of the
extends unbroken in a certain direction. Partly because of the structural idea and partly by reason of
innate
If
it
human
curiosity, the eye will travel to the
end
of this line.
at the second illustration, you will find impossible for the eye to make a straight line from
91
you look
INTERIOR DECORATION
the centre of the room to the top, or the bottom of the room to the top. The eye tends to follow the direction of the strongest line, the curved one which I have described.
This tendency by which the eye is led from one point to another by a continuous line, or one nearly so, is called movement, and this movement from one place
to another, in this or that direction, consciously or unconsciously, detracts from the sense of rest or repose.
If the function of the
room
is
to secure repose, neither
of these
movements
vigorous effects the room exists.

If dignity
less so
be introduced in strong and without destroying the idea for which

will
of the room, the
and formality are the chief characteristics wandering curve will tend to make it
if
than
the
movement were a
strictly vertical
and horizontal one.
The lines of triangular picture wires, erratic lines created by draperies, oblique placing of rugs with reference to floor edges and other arrangements which have been treated under structural unity, create, each
in itself, a
lished
movement contrary to the general one estabby the room structure. Each movement in a
direction different from that of all the others creates a maze or forest of direction movements. This results in confusing the selection, and a solution, conscious
or
unconscious,
impossible.
rest.
composition idea becomes Such a room is not one in which to

of
the
not lines alone that create movement; spots of or colour arrangements of forms, close enough together to be associated as parts of a whole, lead the eye from
It
is
92
02
K 2 w
w ^ s H s g O
go
PH
s ~
t
l
EMPHASIS AND UNITY

one point to another through a sequence in the same way. In some designs which are to be used for decorative
purposes movement is most desirable, for, in the fact that the eye does naturally go from one part of the design to the other, there is an incentive to interest throughout the entire scheme. When the opposite idea, however, is the aim, care must be taken that no such movement be created.
For example, many people fancy that, given three or four small pictures, they must be hung together or adjacent to each other as a group upon the wall; that
each picture first one at the
if
is,
for example, nine inches high, the
four inches
should be placed low, the next one from it and two inches higher, the away next four inches from that and two inches higher, and the last one in the same way, at a distance of four inches, and two inches higher. They believe that an
left
must be obtained because this arrangement surely is not stiff. No, it is not stiff; neither is it desirable from any standpoint.
artistic result
Structurally these pictures should be straight across the top. The reason for this will be given later.
If they are of the same size there is no excuse for their not being straight at the top or bottom. If any motion is to be created across the room from right to left, it should be straight across rather than up and down The same stairs, which would be tiresome if taken far.
objectionable movement often results from arranging furniture after this manner.
Another place where

less
it is
undesirable to create endI
journeys
is
upon the
floor.
have remarked be93
INTERIOR DECORATION
fore that the quieter the floor appearance is the more it accords with the idea of a place on which the feet
may rest and furniture may be placed.

One of the most disturbing things to be found in a room is a rug the pattern of which, by its erratic lines
and diagonally
design
is
or spotted effects, leads the eye horizontally, vertically all at the same time. This type of
appears in spotted wall bouquets of flowers placed several feet apart, one above the other, showing as clearly defined spots that form a sequence which may be followed in any direction, each spot leading to an adjacent one in the same line. No one ever suspected until his attention was called to it, probably through experience, the amount of energy wasted by the American nation in useless countit
much worse when
covers.
For instance,
in the case of
consciously and unconsciously, of spotted wall papers, spotted floors and badly arranged decorative
ing,
motifs on the wall.
The
fact to grasp
is
that these arrangements exist
to produce certain results,
and movement prevents
balanced arrangement and the resultant quiet, restful If the mistake is made of effect of finished motion. allowing this movement idea to creep in in ever so small a way, it must, inasmuch as it has entered into a scheme, bring with it the qualities for which it stands. Understand this, and introduce the opposite of those qualities, if they are desirable, in the particular room under consideration. It may be interesting to those who find pleasure in the study of pictures to know that this is one of the
most useful
94
of all principles of composition to
him who
EMPHASIS AND UNITY

in his pictures to emthe the centre of or interest key idea for which phasize the picture stands.
would use the accessory objects
Take, for example,

of early Italian art.
many
Some
of
of the religious pictures
them contain from three
to one hundred figures, including perhaps the mother, the child, and the rest of the Holy Family, saints,
angels and other persons. The function of each of these figures as a matter of composition is to emphasize
some precept or ideal for which the picture stands as a whole. We will suppose, for the sake of argument,
to be brought out or the child The child is small> not brilliantly coloured, and lies quietly in the mother's arms. The bend of the head, the gaze of the eyes,
that the Christ idea

Christ idea
is
is
to be emphasized.
compel the observer of the picture to find interest in the very thing in which the mother is most interested. Other members of the family, saints and attendants,
and looking directly at or bending their body toward either mother or child. If they are not, one is looking at another and either pointing to the object of most importance or, by lookare generally interested ing at another
who
is
absorbed in contemplation of this
object, compels
you
to follow his gaze.
This setting of composition, arranging of forms, comparison of lines and use of gaze attraction is emphasized always in the best stage performances in which more than one or two persons are concerned in
the exposition of an idea.
Every
exists to
make
principle of composition and arrangement clear some given quality or idea. These
also
assist
principles
in
producing a corresponding
95
INTERIOR DECORATION
mental state in any person who is active in sensing such qualities. Conformity to these principles will result in producing qualities related to the idea for which an expression is sought. Disregard of them may have a result quite opposed to those ideas which may be
struggling for expression.
Movement,
then,
is
the complement of balance.
Balance exists to produce rest and all those qualities which are intimately related to it. Movement exists
to destroy balance, to create unrest, to lead the individual in certain directions from one thing to another
to keep him on the alert, and it ends by bringing him to some particular point. Let us not confuse these two vital principles or fail to see their import in the arrangement of colours,
forms, lines and textures in any problem where the decorative idea is the one to be considered.
PART
CHAPTER V
SCALE, MOTIFS AND TEXTURES AS THEY RELATE TO FURNISHING AND DECORATING
MENTION
its
in decorative units
produced where the scale or relative sizes of elements are well or badly chosen. A more de-
has been
made
of the effects
tailed treatment of this subject is not likely to make us too careful in our selections in this field of expression.
The term scale is broader in its meaning than the mere word implies. It means not only that every element of each separate article must be in the right
proportion to every other element of that article, but that every object used in the room unit must have the same perfect scale relation to every other object used
and to the room
itself.
Furthermore, this scale feeling extends not only to the appearance or to the forms, sizes and colours in their aesthetic effects, but also to these as each expresses
its
particular function idea.
applied to a chair, for instance. First, this given chair must have general which are both pleasing and possible in its proportions
as
it is
Examine the treatment
functional
capacity. The proportion of height to width, and of each of these to the depth of the chair as a whole, must be considered. The dimensions of the
back, of the seat, the height of the seat from the floor,
97
the design of the arms, if there be any arms, must be so related that the chair will fulfill its functional
idea of comfort.
Then
all
of its parts
by
their perfect
scale relation, each to each, will awaken through their significant forms a sense of aesthetic pleasure.
proportion, too, of the legs to the cross bars of the chair; of the members of the back to those parts
The
and to each other; the mouldings (if there are any) to all these and to each other should be a subject for careful individual study no matter how small the detail may be. American furniture shows a woful lack of
knowledge of such details, a lack of sincerity in expressing an idea and a neglect of aesthetic proportion.
If the chair is perfectly suited
by
it
its
proportion
and if so are form relations these pleasing by comparison that an aesthetic sensation is produced, the chair has fuland
its
forms to the idea for which
stands,
filled
the law, so far as
its
scale relation
is
concerned,
But this is not the final tribunal as a separate unit. this which before particular chair comes in composition
with other chairs and other articles of furniture making
up the room
unit.
is
If the chair
under discussion
to be covered with
upholstery material and this material has decorative units of ornament upon its surface, these also must show
These have the same artistic relationship as that which exists between other members of the same general whole. Very often a chair with slim, delicate, refined legs will be found in historic periods with backs far too heavy, or vice versa, and while the chair is perhaps an expression of some stage of development during the period, it is an ugly aggrea scale
feeling.
98
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53
CU
SCALE, MOTIFS
AND TEXTURES
gate of scale relationships and an inartistic model for Sometimes when these parts are present-day use. well related in scale the period demanded a textile the
design of which was far too heavy, or perhaps too weak, for the structural scale elements of the chair.
There is a question, then, of choosing between bad forms, bad sizes, and poorly related scales as the expression of some period when these forms were not clearly
sensed, or of so relating these parts in scale that they shall represent not only their functional idea but also
an esthetic scale relationship. There can be no queswhich to choose. The slavish acceptance or copy of a period article of furniture or decoration, bad in any part, but copied because of its period sigIt shows also a bad nificance, bespeaks bad taste. on of the the tendency part person who prefers to copy and hold intact badly expressed ideas, rather than to try to grasp the idea, modifying and improving it as much as he is able to under particular circumstances. It should be made quite clear at this point that there are no periods in which one cannot find, and find often,
tion as to
the grossest inconsistencies in some phase of national At no period and at no time have people expression.
succeeded in keeping a perfect balance of ideas; therefore, in no period have they made a perfect balance in expressing those ideas.
Sometimes, as in the High Greek period, proportion has been fundamental in all things and appears in its most highly developed form. At other times rhythm
have been the dominant thought, and dancing, waving-line combinations have been carried to
of line their greatest degree of perfection.
and grace
This occurred in
99
INTERIOR DECORATION
XIV, when proportion and scale relabetween rooms and their furnishings were often totally ignored in the matter of assembling objects as a
the period of Louis
tions
room
unit.
A single chair sometimes carried out in every particular the scale idea,
the scale relation

it
room in which was absolutely unsensed and at times

but
it
was placed
in a
was associated with articles of furniture having the same defect. Then, too, it frequently occurred that naturalistic decorative motifs were woven in the tapestry
chair, decorations large covering the seats of a Louis in motif and enough strong enough in colour to have dominated a huge formal chair of the period of the High
XV
Renaissance in Italy. The reason for studying scale from period standpoints is to establish the fact that certain scale relations are
consistent
and harmonious, and therefore

is
that a violation of these scale relations
pleasing, and bound to de-
stroy the consistency, the harmony and the pleasure resulting from scale as an artistic consideration. quite likely to come across badly related things most ordinary furnishings of the most ordinary houses as well as in the most elaborate ones where periods and types are more thoughtlessly mixed.
is
One
in the
A table generally has a larger leg than a chair, but the ratio of size between the leg and the chair should
have a bearing on the general
size of
the table as
it
relates to the general size of the chair; or, rather, the general contour, size and thickness of material in any
a relationship between its dimensions as a whole and the dimensions of its parts, such as its legs, its top, its slats or its panels.
article of furniture establishes
100
HALLWAY AND DINING-ROOM IN A SUBURBAN HOUSE; GOOD EXCEPT RUG (TOO STRONG AND AGGRESSIVE) AND THE DECADENT PLANT STAND AT THE LEFT, WHOLLY OUT OF HARMONY WITH ALL OTHER DETAILS IX THE ROOM.
SCALE, MOTIFS
AND TEXTURES
which is one-fourth as big as a cabinet or a table should have a leg not as big as the table but in a scale somewhat corresponding to its size, as its size relates to the table dimen-
Having established
this relationship, a chair
sions.
notable example of lack of feeling in scale is the in which the tops of tables jut beyond their Certain periods in the Italian structural leg formation.
manner
Renaissance have established a projection long enough to seem to be adequate for the scale and height of the This same strict adherence to scale in its table itself. jut may be seen in the roofs of Italian palaces of the same period, notably in those of the Strozzi, Antinori and
Riccardi in Florence.
in a scale
These have cornices projecting to the scale of the f agade, related charmingly
the height of the building, the material of which it is made and to the general proportions of the exterior of
the building.
By comparing
Italian tables with those of the Eliza-
bethan or Early Renaissance in England, where the projection is from two to three inches, instead of eight or nine inches, one easily perceives the cut or dwarfed feeling of the top. One gets an impression of lack of
material as well as lack of proportion in the top as lates to the rest of the table.
it
re-
It is a curious and interesting study to note this one instance of scale relationship through the remainder of the English periods. Starting with the Italian as a
and taking the Elizabethan as a matter of comparison, let us look at the ways in which the Jacobean period worked out this idea. As the material lessened in amount, in thickness and in scale, the top extended a
basis
101
INTERIOR DECORATION
and a better relation in scale resulted than in the Elizabethan period, where the proportion, so far as the top is concerned, seemed to be entirely lost. In the Queen Anne and Georgian styles one can readily see the effect as each interpreter saw it of the scale relation of the object and the scale feeling of its material influencing the matter of the distance in the extension of the top. This relation is quite as apparent in cabinets, dressers, chests of drawers and writing tables, which articles of furniture were developed with the need for them as civilization advanced.
bit,
With
he considers every part and detail to be in perfect scale relation to every other part. If some one feature is unduly prominent or so undersized that it loses its functional power or fails to play its part in the construction of a significant form, or to conform to the rule of unity in scale, he will then discover it. Having looked over each article, one should see these different articles as they relate to each other; and more important still, should consider whether the single arin each case
ticles of furniture are
amine see whether
this period illustration in mind, one should exhis own furniture and the furniture of others to
too large or too small for the
room
which they are placed. It often happens thai assembling many horizontal pieces of furniture in a room which is as tall as it is The same wide or long creates a very queer feeling. in if would be created the room all the articles feeling it contained were vertical in their effect. To understand how to make a room look larger or smaller than it is, is to help know how to choose furniture
in
in correct scale relationships 102
first,
to the
room
itself,
SCALE, MOTIFS
AND TEXTURES
article with which it must be Constant care is necessary to determine anything like a reasonable standard of scale relationship unless one is trained through years of study by either
and then to every other
associated.
drawing, measuring or calculating in some way the exact relation of details as they have to do with each
other in the construction of any unit. In analyzing the concept or mental picture one has of any object which he sees or sound which he hears, he
quite likely to forget that consciousness is the result of impressions received in five ways. These five ways,
is
represented by the five senses sight, hearing, touch, are the avenues through which our smell, and taste
ideas or impressions of external things come. Some persons see more correctly than they hear; others hear more correctly than they see; many gain a
large part of their ideas of objects or the sense of touch.
from the tactile
sense,
We are quite likely to believe that all ideas come from the sense of sight, if we see more correctly than we hear, or gain ideas more easily that way than by any other.
To
persons sense of touch.
all
many
originally through the This fact has given to all visual objects
ideas
come
a quality which we call texture. That is, because we have touched a round object some time and acquired the idea of rotundity, we see an object as round, men-
The is presented to the sense of sight. of quality roughness, smoothness, flexibility, rigidity, and similar qualities, were first acquired through the
tally,
when one
sense of touch.
chiffon looks
burlap cloth looks rougher than an India silk; more flexible than taffeta; oak appears
103
INTERIOR DECORATION
coarser, firmer
and more rugged than mahogany or
boxwood; olive wood has a silk-faced look; Italian walnut approaches this but still shows traces of grain, making it somewhat coarser because of this. A tightly woven linen looks and feels firm, more decided, harder, less yielding and less graceful in its possibilities than charmeuse silk, the qualities of which are
exactly opposite to those described. Wood, textiles, metals, potteries and all made objects have a quality known as texture which is fundamental
in the idea of harmony between objects which are to be used together. It must not be understood that all things that are to be used together must have precisely the same texture feeling. If they did, the result would be a monotonous textile composition. Consistent variety,
If,
however, must obtain. on the other hand, the wood in a room has the
feeling of oak, the hangings the feeling of chiffon or charmeuse, the rug the texture of hemp or heavy wool,
while the ornaments represent the texture of bisque or Sevres ware, there can be little hope of textural har-
mony
in the composition.
To be
sure, putting these
in the right colour may lessen the textural significance, since scaling them properly and pleasingly makes the
textural difference less noticeable.
To
arrange them in
perfect composition helps to make good effects out of bad ones. complete criticism or analysis of a situation can never be made until the question of texture has
been considered either intellectually or through the

sense of feeling.
people, who are sensitive enough, know immediately when textures are too unrelated to be harmoni-
Some
104
SCALE, MOTIFS
ous.
AND TEXTURES
More, however, are oblivious to this distinction and cannot remedy even the simplest inconsistency because they are unable to see what is wrong. There
anywrong, and this discussion may serve to awaken in such at least a spirit of investigation.
is,
of course, a third class

is
those
who never know
thing
To show how important the cultivation of this sensitiveness is, let me remind you that there are certain
is
countries in which the development of the tactile sense considered so important that special lessons are given
:
in the following way all children, until they reach the ages of twelve or fourteen years, are put in a class,
blindfolded,
and
led to tables
on which are placed,
in
mixed piles, pieces of straw braid varying in degrees of textile coarseness, undressed pieces of wood, different qualities of lace, silk and other textiles, feathers, soft and stiff, and materials of various kinds which one
is likely to encounter in furnishing a house or clothing the body. Children are asked to select a wood and a silk that feel
right together, then to add to these something in metal or pottery, a piece of lace, a feather, a bit of straw, or other material, until they have found, by feeling,
such things as they consider texturally harmonious. With the bandage removed, they then compare what they have chosen by feeling with what they would choose by sight, and are so led to sense relationships in these combinations. If this training is continued for some time, it is clear that the habit must be formed
of recognizing relationships, as well as of investigating
those relationships before accepting anything as good. After a time, of course, this becomes an unconscious
105
INTERIOR DECORATION
process.
No
one when it where it can be made a part of the unconscious or subconscious

self.
process of analysis should be a conscious has reached the stage of development
Only when these things are a part

self
of
the subconscious
are they really effective in de-
veloping the art idea. Training the mind to sense one quality at a time, and that thoroughly, is a step in the development of the final idea. When, however, the perception of this
quality has
become a habit
it is
time to sense with
like
accuracy the next quality, then the next and the next, and so on, until one unconsciously feels a good and correct thing and, equally, is able to decide at once
when a
this
thing is not right or correct, or that this, that The value of or the other quality is wrong in feeling.
viewpoint to the interior decorator, or to the person who would appreciate art in any applied form, is Only the genius can appreabsolutely immeasurable.
ciate, create
and
criticise in
any
field,
but in any one
may be developed to a considerable degree the ability to appreciate, to create and to criticise, if he accepts one thing at a time and trains himself to perceive correctly.
right application of this textural sense will show that one cannot put olive wood and antique oak in
the same unit without at least a considerable manipulation of space between them. Burlap and chiffon will not enter harmoniously into a texture scheme, even
they are both made of silk and have the same colour. much harder to harmonize them if one happens to be done in cheap cotton and the other in exif
It will be
pensive silk while their colours

106
differ.
Pieces of orna-
SCALE, MOTIFS
AND TEXTURES
ment like bisque and wrought iron are by their textures somewhat inharmonious, but not more so than are other articles of furniture or upholstery which we daily
attempt to put together. This description of texture is not meant to be comIt is intended simply to arouse in the mind of plete.
the reader a realization of the importance of recognizing this quality and its power in the artistic concept. It
also bring about a consciousness of texture or its lack.
may
harmony
in
Before leaving the general fundamentals of this subject for the historic and specific ones, it is essential to have a common perception of what is meant by
motifs in decoration.
It
is
sometimes easier to see the
significance of this if one thinks first of the motif as it short passage or appears in musical composition.
two perhaps conveys, or is meant to, the fundamental theme or idea around which the composition is built.
To the person who
understands music this short passage is the key or cue and is the source of the enlargements, the broadenings, the accessories and the tracings of all
that comes after
it.
same thing in a literary composition. There must be a theme upon which to write, a motif
sees the
One
around which all parts of the composition are woven. In decoration there must also be a theme or motif, a something which expresses the fundamental idea but which is changed, enlarged, broadened, coloured, cut, added to, and finally, with all its parts, woven into a
decorative whole.
The decorative motif as it refers to ornament be said to originate in one of two sources: the
may
first
107
INTERIOR DECORATION
source, nature, is one from which taken their inspiration and which
many
periods have
some periods have
misused, since
lost its
by
their treatment in materials nature
own individuality and was misrepresented in the attempt to make decoration nature.
On the other hand, nature

As Goethe has
said, ''Art
did not become decoration.

art because
it is
not nature." Therefore, to become art or decoration, nature must lose its fundamental characteristics. This is one of the most difficult things to grasp in the whole realm of decorative art. So thoroughly are people and it is right that they should be imbued with a love for nature as nature, that it is impossible for them to leave nature to nature's realm and to realize that nature cannot, as nature, be art, since nature is God's realm and art is man's. It is man's function to select from nature bits of the great whole and to arrange them for his needs in an arThis he may do in his garden, his grounds, tistic way. or in a vase on his library table, but it is not his funcis
tion in foreign materials to attempt to make his garden or his grounds or his vase of flowers look as they would
look or did look
when they were
created in their
own
natural environment as a part of the scheme of nature rather than of man's adaptation of it. So long, therefore, as
a rose
it
is
a rose, whether
it is
in the
garden or on
looks practically the same; but its appearance is very different as a rose, or as one of two or three roses, in a vase on the table, from what it was as one
the table,
of five hundred or a thousand on a bush, where the environment of the bush had also its effect. This is not so hard to see, however, as the next
108
^ ~ B ^ H ? n R * 3 B ^ ^
S 2 ^ u> 5 M H *N S O ^ r^
.
fri
SCALE, MOTIFS
AND TEXTURES
step in which the rose is to be translated into a carpet, a damask or a painted dish. While it is possible for
the rose to become decorative in the vase, it is impossible for it to be so if man attempts to create a rose,
exactly as or china.
God
created
it,
and do so with wool,
silk
To be sure, the wax flowers of fifty years ago were nearer like nature than the hair ones of seventy-five years ago or the shell ones of one hundred years ago,
but, for my part, of the three I believe the shell ones to be the most decorative, for they, at least, had the
distinction of not looking like that
which they were not.

art, I see in
As sincerity is the first principle of some possibility of decorative effect.

Nature, then,
rative
them
is the first source from which decoornament has been drawn, and such ornament is called naturalistic ornament. Volumes could be written on what has happened in every field of art expression when nations have drawn their ideals from naturalism.
Then
idealism has given place to realism, symbolism to naturalism, while spirituality and sestheticism have
given place to materialism and sensualized nature. This is not the place to discuss the philosophy of the naturalistic ornament, but it readily will be seen
what happens when a nation has reached a point where

its
natural
purely
interests find their best expression in naturalistic ornamental forms. Perhaps one
life
might cite the Roman Empire, the high period of the French Renaissance, the naturalistic Victorian period in England, and the black walnut and painted china periods in the United States. The second source for ornament is found in the ab109
INTERIOR DECORATION
stract idea.
tion,
The Greeks, through
centuries of evoluIts
produced ornament
of pure form.
beauty
is
in its proportion, in the exquisite relationships of abIt never was nature stract sizes, shapes and lines.
and never purported to

lies in its
be.
Its
charm, which
is
classic,
impersonality or abstraction and in its exabstract relationships. quisite The Mohammedans evolved for religious reasons an
Arabesque system of ornament in which no natural motif is found. Its surface charm, which is undeniable, is due to the intricate relationships of abstract motifs in which naturalism has played no part and nature has not been defamed. Other periods, following these two early ones, have also developed abstract ornament which never was and never purported to be natural in
its origin.
These two sources, symbolically and decoratively, are the well springs out of which human ingenuity has created ornament shapes through all ages. Man's love for nature and nature's forms of expression, together with his religious ideals which connect natural objects with the divine idea, has introduced nearly always into the art of nations animal and plant forms
as a part of their decorative plan. The ancient Egyptians used the
human
figure, birds,
animals, and trees, each representing an externalized They divinity as a part of their hieroglyphic scheme.
treated these objects in flat single tones drawn without perspective and modified in form, size and shape in
such a
way
that they fitted rather pleasingly together
and assumed a somewhat decorative appearance. The Assyrians were wont to use chariots, human
110
< Q O o o a 5 O H
h-t
.
02 cc
fe
S B
tc
<5 >H
H Q O S
tf
O fc H H 2
5 g & H U 5
a
02
SCALE, MOTIFS
AND TEXTURES
beings and implements of war to illustrate their caste systems and various social forms in has relief. In this
manifestation of their art they used
many
of nature's
symbols.
The danger came when
realism
demanded a
perfect
exposition in pictorial effect of every detail as it was, rather than as it should be to suit the conditions under
which
it
was to be used.
At times
certain nations have
appreciated the relation of the decorative motif to the material in which it was to be rendered. In Gothic
ornament was arranged decoratively. The decadent Italian Renaissance conceived tapestries only as a picture of social life, and it lost almost entirely its
tapestries
decorative effect.
The
terial of
translation of the rose or the lily onto the maa carpet, wall paper, or a plate is impossible
unless the rose be modified into the feeling or meaning of the material in which it is to appear. I believe it
was Ruskin who said that "Conventionalization is the translation of nature into man's material." A conventionalized motif is that decorative motif which has been so modified in shape, size, colour and proportion that it is exactly suited to the material in which it is
rendered.
significant fact to grasp in this matter is the difference between a motif which attempts to picture
The
which are beyond its power to portray, and which are non-essential, and one that seeks to relate itself perfectly to the material in which it is expressed while it suggests rather than depicts those details which every
details
intelligent person
knows
exist.
Conventionalized motifs, then, are motifs which can

111
INTERIOR DECORATION
exist in
any material but not
in nature,
and a
desire for
a perfectly naturalistic picture in these things seems unbelievable in a civilized people.
Perhaps there is no family of any culture in this country that does not believe some one Madonna to be a beautiful picture. Perhaps the Mona Lisa has as
large a number of admirers as any portrait in existence. It is well to ask ourselves how many pictures of the
should be willing to have in our living-room or our bedroom at the same I am sure no one would choose more than one. time.
chosen
Madonna or the Mona Lisa we
How,
then, can people consistently desire several hundred worse pictures of roses, or other flowers badly drawn, badly arranged, and badly carried out in material? It needs but a little thought to lead one to see that only in masterpieces of historic art has there been an approach to the use of nature in a realistic way so that the
result
is
an
artistic
and decorative
effect.
Perhaps this is the best place in this discussion to call attention to the necessity for care in the selection of
different motifs that are to go into the same room. It is easy to see that varying degrees of naturalistic
treatment and conventional arrangement in rugs, chairs,

hangings, wall coverings, etc., would inevitably introduce into a room impossible combinations of decorative
ornament.
The ornament
of the rug,
which
is
is
usually abstract,
particularly in the Oriental types,
hard to harmonize
with conventional Art Nouveau upholstery and hangThe abstract ings and with naturalistic wall paper. and the conventional may sometimes appear together if neither is too prominent. The very conventional and
112
H ^ H si O 3 g S j H 3 ^ Q o w ^ fc - aj O Q O
*tf j~j ;_3
to
Or ^ o
S fe o 3 5? < H I O O %
*!
WHO B
H
t>
H B H
tn
5?
S^o B
g 5
fa
<*
ffl
M ^ ^ 02 a H y y B CO W H 2i 03
O3
.
r-l
>
CJ
HH
-.
g|od g
I g
Q O S
>*
1 f
fc
W B
d
S3 CN
r^ p^
l-i
<
_ M r O M CC
i c n 1 o i
SCALE, MOTIFS
AND TEXTURES
the nearly naturalistic are very ugly together. The purely naturalistic should never appear, and the abstract is rather formal.
The
room
scale in these motifs, so far as the

is
room unit
is
concerned,
is
of
fundamental importance.
Often a
by contrasting some very tiny, motif with a large, strong and and weak insignificant if Even the furniture and other objects prominent one.
spoiled in effect
are well scaled, the motifs may destroy the scale unit of the room as well as its arrangement.
The more one
studies
ornament the more he
realizes
that nations, peoples and eras have expressed new types of civilization by the source, the treatment and
the application of its motifs for decorative purposes. We are living in an age when all these vast resources are at our command. The trouble with us is that we ap-
proach them with the idea that each must be good under
any circumstances, and

be a decoration.
since
if
it is
an ornament
it
must
Then
we approach
the resources of
same time, each expressing an individual idea, and combine their products without care in a room, an inharmonious aggregate of motifs must be
several eras at the
the result.
In this field, then, of decorative ornament there can be no harmony unless there is understanding. Better
by
far a perfectly plain textile, rug or wall yes, and even china than those in which the inharmonious use of motifs as to source, kind
and treatment destroys the

If motifs
otherwise unified expression. One caution more is essential.
appear in the wall cover they should not appear in the hangings or the floor in any considerable prominence. If they
113
DECORATION
in the hangings
not
the waB.
n house
furnishing.
114
PART
II
PART
II
CHAPTER
VI
HISTORIC ART PERIODS AND THE IDEAS
WHICH THEY REPRESENT

LIFE
is
action; its result
is
evolution,
and out
of this
ceaseless activity comes man's universal impulse to create. Mental life is constantly changing. Environis subject to constant variation; hence man's are needs continually presented in different forms. Because of these conditions, both physical and mental,
ment also
man's creative impulse
finds its natural outlet in the
He is impelled by his into stinctive appetites provide for himself food, drink, his shelter and air. mental desires he is urged to By
satisfaction of these needs.
create such things as will satisfy his aesthetic sense or his appetite for beauty, which is as universal an instinct in
man
as are the physical appetites. As states of civilization have changed
and
different
conditions
have evolved
different
needs
man
has
adapted his creative work to the approximate satisfaction of these needs, so that in all times the works of man have spoken eloquently of his ideals, his interests, his
necessities
and his desires. This makes art objects, so-called, of vital human interest to him who sees them as man's psychological The objects of art that remain express two expression. distinct elements in man's life fitness for use and
117
INTERIOR DECORATION
Their adaptability to our needs may or may not be expressed in their fitness for their own time, but the degree of beauty they reveal is perceptible now and will be forever, for the quality of beauty is eternal. There are two ways of looking at a period in art: first, from the viewpoint of its fitness, or the fitness of its various objects to fulfill the requirements of modern comfort and convenience. While an art object may have adequately expressed this fitness to the generation
beauty.
created, it is often quite impossible to satisfy our conception of fitness with the same object. Its adaptation without loss of character is the problem
in
it
which
was
usage. Looking at it from the second viewpoint, an art period must be considered with regard to its value or its power
as a decorative expression in the furnishing of a house.
of
modern
modern
due regard to these distinctions will ensure such a choice and arrangement of furnishings of any period as will not only conform to modern conditions, but will form with these conditions a harmonious unit. This subject will be further considered in Part III.
History is a record of life. It is a record not only in words but in stone, metal, wood and other materials, and takes the form of architecture, sculpture, ornament, We learn much of how furniture, clothes and the like. the Romans lived from the fragments of architecture
which are
left.
More eloquent than words
are Greek
sculpture, the Gothic Cathedral and the French palaces. In no way can the ideals and practices of a people be so definitely embodied as in those objects which they in their time create to represent their various needs and
118
HISTORIC ART PERIODS

regard history, then, as a mere matter of word record is to miss entirely the intimate relation that exists between art objects and the people who create
desires.
To
This viewpoint of periods as a historical expression is important and will be considered throughout this work. A period in art may be described as a period of time in which one dominant influence controlled the various
them.
some nation's life interest. Perhaps no one person more completely dominated the art of any
expressions of
period than did Louis
XIV
in France.
The
political
situation which he created, the religious ideas which he promulgated, and the social regime which grew out of
his ideas
and practices found
their concrete expression
in the gorgeous, pageant-like forms characterizing the period of Louis XIV. This expression was by no means
a crystallized fact in the early days of the reign of this sovereign, neither did it remain intact until the day of It was modified by outside influences, which his death.
perhaps for the time being were stronger even than his
the royal thought. There is always the transition from the last period to the one under consideration, and the transition from the considered one to the one which follows. Each
or those of his associates
who dominated
be marked by conflicting ideas. In the study of periods it is most desirable that one should have the clearest possible conception of the idea for which the period stands when it is at its highest
of these will
degree of perfection. Study all kinds of objects made during those periods for the discovery of common ele-
Analyze those elements for ideas or qualities which they represent and then interpret all other parts
ments.
119
INTERIOR DECORATION
of the period
and
all
ideas, rather than forms.
associated periods by these quality by set dates, set terms, or crystallized
In discussing a period one must always consider all that has gone before, that is, all influences that are hereditary and that have affected the local period by
contact.
Then
there are national characteristics in-
fluencing the period creation, individual preferences and desires which are associated with the dominating person or persons of that period, and the general needs of
the civilization which, after all, furnish the keynote to the art of every well-defined period. It is better in this brief discussion to take the broadest
possible conception of period art and to try to establish in a limited way a relationship between man, his ideas
or aims,
and the materials with which Ije expresses these.

a fundamental working basis
This
will establish at least
for period study and further investigation. Eliminating Asiatic influences, there
have been, three manifestations or types great broadly speaking,

of expression out of which have been formulated lesser ones at various times under local conditions. Each of
these three dominating influences has in turn been preponderant in the various periods. These three influ-
may be named, for the sake of clearness, the Classic or Hellenic, the Gothic or Christian, and the Humanistic or Materialistic Natural.
ences
In the working out of these three ideas
man has been
moved or impelled to create by three distinct impulses. The highest and most important of these may be called
the religious or spiritual impulse. Because of his desire to embody his highest ideals of religious duty we have
120
MEANING OF THE GOTHIC AND

HUMANISTIC IDEALS
THE SPIRIT, FEELING, OR MEANING OF THE GOTHIC AND HUMANISTIC INFLUENCES AS THEY WERE EXPRESSED IN MATERIALS IS PERHAPS MORE CLEARLY SHOWN IN PAINTING AND TAPESTRY THAN IN ANY OTHER FORM OF ART. THE IDEAL SPIRITUAL DISREGARD OF NATURE'S LAWS AS THEY INFLUENCE THE APPETITES AND SENSES OF MAN APPEARS IN GOTHIC ART EXPRESSIONS. THIS PERIOD IN ITS IDEAL IS THE ECSTATIC, EMOTIONAL, IMAGINATIVE EXPRESSION OF THE SPIRITUAL NATURE AS IT SEEKS TO THROW OFF THE NECESSITY FOR ADHERENCE TO MATERIAL LAW IN THE EXPRESSION OF THE SPIRITUAL OR DIVINE IDEA. IT DOES NOT SEEK TO BE HUMAN FIRST. THE HUMANISTIC IDEAL SEEKS TO ASSOCIATE IN A RELATIVELY HARMONIOUS WAY THE PRIMAL INTENSIONS OF SPIRIT AND MATERIAL AS THEY ARE EXPRESSED IN PHYSICAL MATERIAL. IN THE EARLIEST STAGES, WHERE THE SPIRITUAL IDEA WAS DOMINANT, THE RESULTS ARE BEAUTIFUL THOUGH CLEARLY HUMAN. IN THE LATER STAGES, WHERE SELF-GRATIFICATION OF THE SENSES IS THE ACCEPTED PRACTICE, THE EXPRESSION BECOMES EXTRAVAGANT, MIXED, OVER-LUXURIOUS, SENSUOUS, NATURALISTIC AND
WHOLLY MATERIALISTIC. PRECISELY THESE SAME QUALITIES APPEAR IN ARCHITECTURE, FURNITURE, THE LESSER ARTS, AND IN THE CHOICE AND TREATMENT OF ORNAMENT. THIS IS CONFINED TO NO ONE COUNTRY, BUT IS A COMMON INHERITANCE OF ALL PEOPLE POSSESSED OF THE SAME
IDEALS.
I.
AN EARLY SIENESE GOTHIC MADONNA AND CHILD EXPRESSING THE SPIRITUAL QUALITY FIRST, THEN THE AESTHETIC IN CHOICE AND ARRANGEMENT WITH DISREGARD FOR THE PHYSICAL LAWS OF ANATOMY, AGE MARKS AND SO-CALLED PRINCIPLES OF REPRESENTATION. THE RESULT AIMS AT A SPIRITUAL IDEAL EXPRESSED THROUGH MATERIAL.
AN EARLY TAPESTRY WITH THE GOTHIC SPIRIT AND A DECORATIVE QUALITY MOST APPARENT; BUT THE IMAGINATIVE, CHIVALRIC, SECULAR QUALITIES BEAUTIFULLY COMMINGLED. THE RESULT IS CHARMINGLY DECORATIVE AND SUITABLE TO ITS MATERIAL.
2.
A PAINTING WHICH SHOWS PLAINLY THE LINGERING TRACES OF REFINEMENT, IMAGINATIVE AND DECORATIVE QUALITY OF THE GOTHIC IDEA, BUT EXPRESSING FIRST THE IDEAL CHARM OF THE PAGAN CLASSIC HUMANISM AT ITS BEST.
3.
4.
MAN
A PAINTING WHERE THE APPEAL OF THE SAINT IS ONE OF HUSENTIMENT THROUGH SEEMINGLY DESIRABLE PHYSICAL
QUALITIES.
5.
A LATER TAPESTRY IN WHICH THE HUMANISTIC IDEAL UMPHANT. THE SENSES ARE SUPREME.
IS TRI-

the
monuments of Egypt, the beautiful temples of the Greeks, and the cathedrals of the Gothic period. When the second, or political impulse prevails,
man's greatest energy is bent toward the creation of imposing public structures with accessories which will embody his ideas of political power and will tend duly to impress others with their national strength and importance. The Roman period is perhaps a good example of such domination. The third impulse to create is found in man's social ideal. Whenever the social idea has been dominant as it was in the days of the High French Renaissance then man's energies have been directed toward the creation and expression of all those things which social intercourse and refined social practice seem to make
essential.
In this era we live in the grasp of a commercially social impulse, with the leading idea, commercial advancement, dominating even the social quality. This,
of course, is the lowest and most inartistic viewpoint possible, since the creation of beautiful things demands
a love for those things which is stronger than any mere material gain which can result from their creation. The art standard of the modern period is in consequence
less sensitive, less clearly defined
and
less exalted
than
perhaps any that has previously existed. In treating of the three great influences Hellenic, Gothic and Humanistic it is essential to get the clearest possible idea of what each of these periods
sought to embody. The ancient Greek lived for cenone idea in mind namely, the expression of divinity in perfect material form. Education and
turies with
121
INTERIOR DECORATION
practice were both planned to develop the highest
in the
standards and the highest ideals of physical expression human body and in all material forms that men
Greek statuary did not happen to be what piece is the concrete embodiment of an idea, the development of which took centuries of inheritance and a nation-wide devotion to the idea that beauty is God.
produced.
it is.
Each
Certain qualities must be held supreme in consciousness in order to bring out those qualities in the materials which man touches. This short treatise cannot point out the analogies which exist between the objects of
visual art
it
and the literature or music of the time, but can indicate some of the qualities of mind necessary
tional
to the realization of this perfect, intellectual, unemoand restrained period expression. With beauty
and truth as an ideal expressed in material, the Greek would naturally follow in ideal at least the same plan in the development of the body, in architecture, in ornament, in the utensils commonly used and, in short, in all things which he handled. In order to accomplish this perfect representation of
material beauty, temperance or restraint in all things "Never anything in excess" is a fundamental virtue.
terial
the law which makes the successful handling of maNo other people ever came objects possible. so near to a realization of this ideal as did the Greek.
is
These qualities are readily seen in sculpture but should be just as apparent in the long lines, the simple arrangements, the perfect adapta-
Greek expression shows sion and perfect form.
restraint,
unemotional expres-
and the consistent combinations ornament and the lesser arts.

tions
122
in architecture,

been said that three descriptive words are enough to summarize the Hellenic Ideal and that, having grasped these three words in their full meaning, the quality of everything classic may be tested by them.
It has
The
idea.
first
word
is
"simplicity."
is
unnecessary display
best.
entirely
Whatever savours of foreign to the Greek
The simplest expression when adequate is always

is
have the nations of the earth departed from even The ancient column in their adaptations of classic art. with its beautiful proportions and wonderful materials was created as an honest support to a weight above. The juttings, the friezes and the architraves are essen"sincerity."
terribly this idea,
The second word
How
elements in the decorative idea of the buildings but are first a part of the constructive necessities of the building. To superimpose these parts in stucco^ plaster or tin, upon a steel structure or a brick wall, is
tial
not only a defamation of the noble Greek idea but

farce in the field of
is
The
third
not be grasped for the Greek designed application to all cases. a column he considered this column a unit, and its shaft and capital were made in the same material, appearing as one piece when complete. If statuary occupied space within the gable of the temple or in specially designed niches, this statuary seemed to take its place in size, scale, form and line within its enclosure in such a way that the building as a unit expressed repose. Much of this was due to the perfect scale relation bedifficult
be a little but not so
modern architecture and decoration. word is "consistency." This quality may more difficult of perception at this point
that
it
may When
123
INTERIOR DECORATION
tween the enclosures and the figures. Ornament, in consistent amounts, was consistently applied in the right places. During the highest development of the Greek ideal violations of the principle of beauty through inconsistent relationships are not found. It is a grave mistake to believe that all things are classic which seem to represent the forms or shapes or motifs of the classic period. Nothing can be further from the classic ideal than the misuse of the three orders, the various decorative motifs, and the Greek
figures as they are used in this country to-day, although a great change for the better is noticeable since the invasion
of this field It
is
by the great architect, Stanford White. not in the copy of these forms that the classic
is expressed. It is in the sincere and consistent choice and application of them as well as their adaptaThe artist should realize and tion to period needs.
idea
make a
nates
part of his mental equipment the wonderful idealism as shown in abstract proportion that domiall
From
Hellenic expression. time to time great
men
in all the fields of
period expression have studied the classic for inspiration, and their work has been just as near the classic ideal as their realization of the qualities of form which the classic expressed would permit. The adaptation of the classic has been influenced in all times, more or
less,
by
local conditions as well as
by the
state of
mind
of the
man who
interpreted the idea.
The sensing of fundamental quality in period study the only way to gain an understanding of what periods are and to become anything but a slavish parrot
is
copyist, always missing the essential idea. 124
The second
great art influence
came from the
birth
The pagan Greek had in of the Christian religion. mind the idealization of the body and other material
The Christian religion took "no thought things. for the body, what it should eat or drink, or wherewithal it should be clothed." It directed its thought
energy to the soul and
state.
its
preparation for a future
This difference of ideal brought about the wonderful change in art expression which found its full flower in the Gothic cathedral of the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries.
To
grasp anything of the mean-
ing of this ingenious, imaginative and emotional symbolic art is the work of years. Well-focussed action
brought about an expression of the ecclesiastical idea, first moderately, but finally in the flamboyant Gothic All feeling, joy and gratitude became one conspirit. centrated mass or hallelujah expression in which stone, metal, wood and glass vie with each other to express the wonderful story. As this period reaches its highest point of development it seems almost to eliminate material and to leave a vast network or lacelike fabric
of symbolic spiritual expression. To attempt to compare this great period with the classic is impossible because of the entirely different
point of view. To endeavour to unite the two in spirit or expression without or within the house is well-nigh
Each has its place and each is the expresimpossible. sion of a type of life which has never been repeated and
probably never will be. To restore or rebuild a Gothic cathedral under the conditions of modern thought is as impossible as for man to create a world. But one or
125
INTERIOR DECORATION
two persons
in this century
have made even an ap-
proach to such an achievement. The period last discussed used nature
and naturalistic
motifs as symbolic of Christian ideas, and treated them in a conventional manner more or less suited to the
material into which they were translated. This treatment, however, was not as conventional as it might
have been had the state
of civilization
and the methods
of expression in other fields been developed as they
have been
since.
The
third influence, which I have called the
human-
the one which proceeded from the Italian Renaissance and has been a ruling factor in
istic influence, is
the development of all subsequent period ideas. This influence was nature with all its manifestations in the
man, affecting all those things which he uses. It differed from the Hellenic idea in just this particular: the Greek saw nature as God's expression of beauty in creation; the Humanist saw nature as belonging to
life
of
man
man's personal gratification. The danger in this viewpoint can be appreciated by the simplest mind. So long as man's thought was Gothic or Hellenic, there was no risk in the use of nature in all its forms, so soon, however, as the humanistic idea took firm root its abuse began. The ascetic, fragile, spiritual beauty of the Gothic period gave way
for
aissance.
before the naturalistic, human ideal of the High RenThe luxurious display of nature's symbols
perished in the decadent conception of those who saw in sensuous beauty only an appetite gratification. This decadent naturalism has served as a source of
inspiration for artists in various periods
and
for those in

this country who have been addicted to the selection of such materials as the only expressions of art. If one remembers the two viewpoints of nature discussed above and the expression of spiritual beauty in which the Gothic stands supreme, he will perceive the
three influences which have dominated
men
in the evo-
lution of the so-called periods in art history. No attempt will be made in this book to treat of the
Italian Renaissance
which
is
to attempt in a small space. ever, to suggest the filtration of these three great influences through Italian life, which really gives the key to
a subject far too broad It may be possible, how-
the interpretation of all modern periods in France, England and the United States.
The
Italian Renaissance expressed itself in three
great epochs
namely, the Early, High and Decadent.
period was the expression of humanism in Greek forms filtered through a Gothic consciousness.
The Early
result
The
was a
dignified, strong, sincere, consistent
return to nature and to the structural principles that governed the expression of man's requirements. This
period is wonderfully beautiful in its material expression.
its
conception and in
The High
sion,
civilization of that
period represents the same idea, but the time called for a wider social expres-
and a
past.
a more vigorous and versatile life, more luxury less formal adherence to the traditions of the
period abandoned
itself
The Decadent
to fantastic
conceptions and combinations of structural and decorative objects. Consequently impossible versions of nature's forms appeared, a various and incongruous
127
INTERIOR DECORATION
treatment of these ensued, while structural proprieties were disregarded.
display of this period is responsible in no small degree for the tawdriness and vulgarity that has characterized much of our social expression for the
The inordinate
one hundred years. If this is not directly traceable to the third period of the Renaissance it is so indirectly, for the worst phases of this period that showed themlast
selves during the reigns of Louis
XIV
and Louis
XV
have been admired and frequently copied. Being accepted as representing the best in French art, they have had an influence out of proportion to their merit. The average tourist, and in fact some so-called artists, have found in the examples of this decadent style their only source of enjoyment in Italy and France, and have returned to us not even guessing the importance of what they have missed in the less obtrusive and more refined expressions of the same period. The value of knowing thoroughly the fundamentals
any period may be recognized through the analogy in learning a language, in the study of music, and in the acquisition of knowledge in any field where expression
of
is
possible to us.
From time
of various periods, it Italian periods and of the three great influences which made them, referring to them by name or by the qualities
to time, in the discussion will be necessary to speak of these
The principal reason for having treated them in this way is to arouse in the mind of the reader the desire to study them carefully before attempting to know later periods or trying to interpret them
for
which they stand.
as mere matters of structural form
and ornamental
treatment.
The more thoroughly one
realizes the qualities
which
each period and each part of it represents, the more adequately is he informed as to the material from which he may draw in solving his problem, whatever it may be. The longer one studies the more convinced he is that, after all, the really vital things are very simple and few in number. The failure on the part of any of us to create a truly adequate expression of our ideas is largely due to the fact that we have missed in our research and study the fundamental truths which each object embodies.
remember that a period has no positively definite time limit marked by the birth and death of anybody, but that three great ideas have dominated peoples, and the expression of these ideas has
then, let us
To summarize,
been their art. Let us also remember that each period at its highest point of development is the most adequate possible expression of the ideas which dominate that era. It is necessary to keep in mind the difference between the form and the spirit of a thing. If the external form only is understood, one never knows whether a copy
expresses the idea or not.
It
may
vary in proportion
and
relations in such a
way
as to have a totally different
meaning from that which it expressed when originally created. The qualities which the original embodied are permanent and, whether the same forms or different
ones are used in the new creation, the qualities of the old should be apparent. With these things clearly in mind, we may look briefly
at the expressions of the French and English periods, and then we should try to see the relation of these to
129
INTERIOR DECORATION
Thus we may modern problem, which is not the copy or reproduction of any period but the knowledge of the forces and qualities of all periods and the adaptation of these to modern social, political and religious requireour
clearly defined Colonial period.
own
consider the
ments.
180
PART
CHAPTER
VII
THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE AND THE FRENCH STYLES

GOTHIC art was indigenous to the soil of
France.
By
temperament, association and practice the French people were the logical ones to accept, mature and express the Gothic idea. Unhampered for the most part by
by a strong national exsomewhat formative state, they pression, accepted in the tenth, eleventh and twelfth centuries the material which blossomed and bore fruit in the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
classic traditions, unfettered
and
still
in a
Gothic as an expression
and furnishings was an Italy, and by them expressed with a very strong tinge
of national colouring.
particularly in architecture idea foreign to England and
This betrays the national difference quite as strongly as it emphasizes the original Gothic formulation. Having matured and expressed the Gothic idea, the flower of its expression was found in
cathedrals, monasteries, libraries, and in some details of the palaces of the king and of the highest nobles. So
far as general domestic architecture, furnishings
decorative material are concerned, little probably little was produced, up to the time of Louis
and remains, and
XII
in the late fifteenth century.
On
the other hand, the Renaissance, with
all it signi-
131
INTERIOR DECORATION
was indigenous to the Italian soil because Italy was the home of classic and Roman traditions and everything classic in form was acceptable as an expression of
fled,
that tradition.
In France, however, the Renaissance
affected style, as it was also in England and the northern European countries. It must necessarily be
was an
so, equally, in this
country and at this time. Consumed with the Gothic idea and having exhausted
in ecstasy the materials necessary in telling its story, the French were ready by 1495 for a new idea. Earlier
periods had seen the Crusades, and those taking part in them had passed through the land of the Renaissance
into the influence of the Orient and, naturally, they had brought back with them to France more or less of the
feeling which they had unconsciously absorbed. They also brought back souvenirs of these strange civilizations,
and gradually public notice was drawn to the difference between their own products and these foreign
forms of expression. Louis XII, in his Italian campaign, grasped more than
of his predecessors of the advanced state of civilization in that country and the forms in which this
had any
was expressed. His followers, too, returned with more and more accumulated souvenir material, some forms of which were applied to the Gothic background of the
palaces in France. He may, therefore, be styled the forerunner of the Renaissance in France.
The Renaissance really began with Francis I who came to the throne in 1515. By birth, association, temperament and disposition he was of the quality likely to demand change, refinement, a more or less flippant expression of social ideals, and a fulness of beauty in social
132
THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE

expression which the pure Gothic idea forbade. Three great influences were set in motion by Francis I, which
changed the whole complexion and direction of French endeavour and worked out the two great periods in French art which may be called the French Renaissance and the French period styles.
The first of these influences was the change in religious

viewpoint during his reign.
tion on
Instead of the concentra-
religious idealism which characterized the earlier centuries, he focussed his thought and spent his
time and his energy as well as that of his associates upon the development of the commercial social ideal. This phase of life involved the turning of constructive creative energies into the channels of architecture, furnishings and decoration, in order to satisfy its new demands. Naturally, since Gothic was the expression of the centuries already past, he turned his attention to the
cultivation
and promulgation
of the
newer ideas
of the
Italian Renaissance.
self,
He visited Italy and saw for himall
persuaded
artists to leave their country, furnished
materials and directed forces

this end.
to the attainment of
The second modifying influence was the change which resulted in the social or domestic ideal. The strict
adherence to the family vows and all that that entails had been the social ideal of the earlier national development. Francis, by openly inviting to court the most
beautiful, cultured
and fascinating women of the land, and by choosing successively the companionship of one or more of these to the exclusion of the rights of the queen, developed a new attitude toward social and doThis social change reached
its cul-
mestic relations.
133
INTERIOR DECORATION
mination in the days of Louis XV in the eighteenth century. This difference in the power and place of
woman in social and court life led to wild extravagances,

and the most ingenious methods were employed to obtain new and subtle art expressions for the satisfaction of
each favourite as she, in turn, enjoyed the royal favour. Art, from this time on became, in France, more or Each epoch showed to a great less an art for women. extent the striving of artists in every field for something extravagant and beautiful which should be suited to the taste and refinement of Milady, whoever she might be. This fact places the French Renaissance and the French period styles at once in a category by
themselves, their qualities being quite individual compared with those of other nations.
when
was the rapidity with which France was organized, politically and socially, during this reign and, through the extension of commerce and
third influence
The
international association, the accumulation of wealth which was lavishly expended in the social lines before
indicated.
It
is
not our intention here to enter into details of
the period of the Early Renaissance in France, but to set in motion certain ideas which account for the
maturity of the French styles as we know them and lead up to an appreciation of the value of these styles in
modern
decoration.
The French Renaissance may be said to include the time from the accession of Francis I in 1515 to the accession of Louis XIII in 1610, and was developed largely during the reign of Francis I, Henry II and Henry IV. The short reigns of Francis II and Henry
134
(A.) SKETCH SHOWING THE EARLY ITALIAN RENAISSANCE ADAPTED TO THE COMFORTS OF A MODERN LIVING-ROOM, BUT RETAINING THE QUALITIES OF FORMALITY, STRENGTH AND RESTFUL ARRANGEMENT.
(B.)
LATER ITALIAN RENAISSANCE ADAPTED IN LIGHTER SCALE TO A
MODERN HALL. THIS POSSESSES THE SAME QUALITY OF REPOSE. RESTRAINT AND FORMALITY.

III have
made
so little impress
on art
styles that they
are not worth mentioning in this connection. The reign of Francis I, Henry II and Henry IV, however, are each dominated by particular ideas, and still
the fundamental influences are the change in religious attitude, the birth and development of the new social
ideas and practices, and the commercial relationships which made possible the rapid advancement in every
line of creative
endeavour.
It must be remembered here that there are three stages of development in all art periods. They may be called
the Early, the High and the Decline. We look to the Early period for the finest expression of sane idealism which the period gives, to the High period for the rich,
full,
material
display
demanded by the
principles
which control the inception of the thought, and to the Decline for the complete materialization of the original idea with the loss of simple constructive necessities in the deluge of ornament and ostentatious display. We find also in the Decline an injection of materialistic, physical idealism where the aesthetic or the spiritual idea had dominated the original thought.
The period of Francis I represents the first idealism of the Renaissance in France. It may be said to express
in its entirety the best period of the Italian Renais-
sance modified
by the temperamental qualities of the French people and then by the personality of Francis I and his immediate associates. Its archifirst
tecture represents a tremendous step in the evolution of modern luxury and comfort. Its decorative appear-
ance embodies the laws of decorative choice and arrangement sensed keenly and worked out in the adaptation
135
INTERIOR DECORATION
of the best statement of Italian Renaissance forms.
textiles
The
and textures are the expression of the fairly restrained, though beautifully decorated, ideas of the Middle Renaissance. The development of furniture was intensely interesting because the two new ideas, of beauty for the senses and of comfort for the body, were vying with each other for new fields in which to exercise the lately awakened instincts of a slumbering
consciousness.
Tables, chairs, cabinets and chests were modified from th( Italian material, scale, construction and com-
bination to the distinctly French, which was smaller, lighter, less dignified, more domestic and less formal.
In
all
ties of refinement,
felt.
other fields of endeavour the same general qualiscope and concrete beauty are clearly
This was the beginning of the second great temperamental expression of the French people. The period of Henry II may be briefly described as a cross between the style Francis I and the Baroque Italian Renaissance, with Francis I and Early Italian
ideas strongly prevailing. Added to these two influences was the new Oriental idea, espoused and promulgated
by many
Diane de some of the

II.
in the court, including the court favourite Poitiers. For her and through her came
finest expressions in the period of Henry Naturally a woman of exquisite taste, of liberal
education and unlimited power, it was possible for her to develop, particularly in the interior of houses,
the ideas to which the Early period had given birth. Much of this period was devoted to the advancement
of the art of tapestry weaving, wood carving manufacture. At times the art seems to be
136
and textile dominated

by the High Renaissance or the early stages of the Decline in Italy. This was due, no doubt, to the influence exercised by the queen Catherine de Medici whose ideas and practices were always strictly Italian.
She surrounded
Italian prelates,
herself as
much
workmen and
as possible with such court ladies as would
throw the weight of their influence toward Italian expression as opposed to that broadening type which was
embraced by Diane de
articles of furniture
Poitiers.
New
kinds and more
were in demand to satisfy the taste for Cer$h types display and comfort. growing of chests became cabinets, cabinets became sideboards,
sideboards, dressing tables
and writing
desks, things
unheard of in any country, even in Italy at that time. Ornament was a no less prolific field for creative genius. The whole range of Italian Renaissance was exploited, resulting in a heaviness, a mixed aggregate, and a collection of forms lacking the delicacy, simplicity and refinement with which the period of Francis I speaks
so eloquently.
it
Architecture received
little
impetus
became the function of the royal power to although complete and add to the great number of buildings begun by Francis I and either left unfinished or found
too small adequately to express the needs of his epoch. Suffice it to say that the Renaissance reached its
height of decorative possibility in the reign of
Henry
II, particularly toward its close the exquisite qualities which the period of Francis I had given. This was the natural, spontaneous adaptation of the Italian Renaissance in genuine French feeling. The period of Henry IV shows a strange conglomera-
and
lost
in
this reign
INTERIOR DECORATION
Born a Huguenot, and during the first part of his life a believer hi all that the Huguenot faith proclaimed, his reign marks an epoch of consistent severity and plainness which outlines itself with great
tion.
Later in
distinctness against the rich informalism of Henry II. life, however, he and his followers seem to
have lost the idea for which the Huguenot faith stands and to have realized that it was not the natural outcome of the conditions under which they lived. No doubt the negotiations between France and Italy, in which Marie de Medici was sold to France to satisfy a debt, had much to do with the future development of this style. Although she was married to Henry IV, it must be remembered that her life was quite apart from that of the court as France knew it, and even from the king himself, for she was not crowned queen until a very few days before the assassination of
the king.
The French conception, as already developed, was then established plus the ideas which Marie de Medici and her court imported directly from the Pitti Palace
where she had been brought up in a peculiarly isolated way in an uncongenial atmosphere. Her associates were bourgeois; she was lonely and piqued, discouraged and sad, whimsical, and by nature inclined to material things. The fact that she was
in Florence,
starved in every way in her youth, bartered for a monetary consideration and placed in an impossible
situation,
may
account for the kind of influence she
exercised on the rest of this period

of her son, Louis XIII.
and the Early period
Being surrounded by persons

138
inferior in birth
and
EARLY ITALIAN ROOM EXPRESSING RESTRAINT AND STRENGTH OF THE EARLY MASCULINE TYPE.
EARLY ENGLISH ROOM EXPRESSING A DISTINCTLY MASCULIXE FEELING, BUT LESS RUGGED IN APPEARANCE. FOR MODERN CONSIDERATION THE DEER HEAD MAY BE OMITTED.

and not having the fullest confidence of the his ministers, she naturally sought to express and king herself in such things as would at least demand attention and remark from all with whom she came in contact.
culture,
Evidently, too, there were certain persons of the court
whose taste must be deferred to. Architecturally, most of the work was the completion So far as furnishing was conof things already begun. cerned, some new pieces were originated and others fell
Flemish artists began to make themselves felt because of the Edict of Nantes which gave religious freedom in France to all and was the signal for an influx
into disuse.
English and West Germanic artisans. these represented the art crafts in some Nearly finest workers in metal, wood, stone, cloth form. The and other media found their homes in France. This inof
Flemish,
all of
to the very end in the quality of the technique shown in the expression of any idea in any niaterial up to the time of the French Revolution.
fluence
is
felt
Much, however,
last
of its efficiency the Edict of Nantes of ocation
was
lost with the revXIV in the Louis by
days of his life. So far as the feeling in this period is concerned and that is the important thing in this connection it may be styled the decline or decadence of the RenIt really corresponds in France aissance in France. to the decline of the Italian Renaissance which occurred from about 1550, and is characterized by the bourgeois taste which always chooses the most ornate, the showiest and the most impossible things under the impression that they are true examples of refined artistic
selection.
139
INTERIOR DECORATION
rived from the period of
Perhaps the most important conclusion to be deHenry IV is that, given a
plain, simple, dignified, sincere, consistently decorative
thing and one which is involved, dissembling, unpardonably loaded with decoration and worked in unrelated
motifs and materials, the bourgeois taste invariably This is partly due to the fact selects the latter.
that
tional
all
are not trained
to
select
intelligently
or
reasonably, and most are not qualified through emoendowment or training to select without stopping to think why a thing is, or is not, good. Neither
this intuitive perception of consistency in decoration and beauty nor an intellectual conception or judgment
was present Henry IV.

of
it
in the
dominating idea of the period of
grasp the Baroque influence or the materialistic naturalistic substitution for idealism it is only necessary to study the type of persons, the quality of ornament, and the technique manifested in the tapestries of
To
the day. This same aggregate quality idea was seen in the painting, as may be easily distinguished in the won-
and voluptuous, paintings of the court of Marie de Medici by Rubens. Out of the same consciousness that chose and admired these tapestries and paintings came the choice of and admiration for the furnishings and fittings of the interior. Cabinets, chests, tables and chairs were not only covered with
derful, though sensuous
carved materials, but loaded with them. This decorative material consisted of a grotesque combination, impossible in nature
human, animal, vegetable and mineral motifs naturalistically done but

unthinkably combined.
140
and irregular in art,
of

This adaptation of the universe in a naturalistic form in all materials is no more art than it is nature. It is a of relation of the nature to a misart, misconception conception of decoration itself, and an evidence of wrong
judgment as to the choice and application
of decoration.
It is the inevitable sign of a decadent taste and a love for show which entirely eclipses the power to distinguish the eternal fitness of things, which is the foundation of all The inspiration for all this was found in art expression. the life of the times. It was the natural consequence of the acceptance by the people of a foreign form of art
expression with the many outside influences which modified its growth and the culmination of an idealism
which puts physical, sensuous "gratification before not only the spiritual law but the aesthetic conception as
well.
While this period may be said to be the closing one of the French Renaissance, it is the foundation for the subsequent development of periods which may be called the French styles. There is much in the period of Francis I which may be copied or readapted with profit and pleasure in the development of the American
ideal.
Clearly, to actually copy the Francis I style is quite impossible since our conditions are so dissimilar. The period of Henry II, too, presents structural
features, forms, new articles of furnishing and decorative ideas which are really forces not only in the French periods but also in modern times if handled as force
instead of objects to be copied.
Decorative features,
textiles,
pottery and the like
found a beginning in these periods which in many others have not been improved upon for their decorative effect.
141
INTERIOR DECORATION
and may be used combinations and many arrangements when one understands for what they stand. On the other hand, to copy these slavishly with backgrounds and accessories is quite as impossible as to so copy the architecare decorative forces potential
in
Thus
ture
itself.
For the period
of
Henry IV there is
less to
be
said.
selection of anything which is truly expressive of the period indicates a dearth of other material.
The French Renaissance may be said to end with the death of Henry IV in 1610, although its influence was
felt for
some years during the regency
of
Marie de
Medici. Louis XIII came to the throne in 1610, and was contemporary with James I and Charles I of England. During his reign of thirty-three years the transition from Renaissance to strictly French period styles took One of the marked characteristics of the French place.
is their adaptability or susceptibility to new ideas and their assimilation, modification and re-expression of these ideas.
At the end of the reign of Louis XIII scarcely anything was left that could be called Renaissance in its form or feeling so thoroughly had it become modified by other influences and permeated with the true French
atmosphere.
Briefly considered, the period of Louis
artistic decorative
XIII
from the
standpoint
illus-
trates the epoch of conflicting influences accepted, harmonized and reconstructed, and it paves the way for the
magnificent development of the period of Louis XIV. By nature Louis XIII was less fitted to dominate a style
than any of his predecessors.

142
His genius and his atten-

tion were devoted to quite other fields of development. But certain inevitable influences were felt that modified
the national attitude and brought into its development new ideas which resulted in the grand periods that fol-
most interesting and one of the strongest influences for growth in the arts and letters is found in the power of Cardinal Richelieu. Immediately upon his assuming a position of importance, Richelieu furthered the causes of science and art, and bent his energies toward the furthering of their
lowed.
of the
One
development during the time of his power. In sympathy with scientific research and a devoted lover of the beautiful, he did much to pave the way for intensive development along these lines, in which his influence was felt for two centuries after. The queen, Anne of Austria, a Spanish woman with
all
the inherent tendencies of
strict,
formal, Spanish
etiquette, contributed no small part to the formulation of this new and very mixed type of art expression. Spanish art at this time was a mixture of the Saracenic
was expressed in Granada and the Italian Decadence as it was espoused by the Spanish people. Grandeur, elegance, show and heaviness were the chief
influence as
it
characteristics
of Louis XIII.
Anne of Austria contributed to the period

felt in
At
form
the
this
time the Flemish influence was
the
of twisted
woods, simple rectangular structures,
and their peculiar treatment of the acanthus. Their methods eventually took firm root in French soil.
scroll,
Add to this the influence, through the Duke of Buckingham and his suite, of the English period known as that of Charles I, and one readily perceives how the period of
143
INTERIOR DECORATION
Louis XIII received vast potential influences Italian, All of these Spanish, Saracenic, Flemish and English. required to be assimilated, reconstructed and intelligently used to express the needs of the new phase of life into which France had entered. Difficult it would indeed be to describe in a limited space the period of Louis XIII. Enough may be
gleaned, however, from this brief discussion to stimulate the reader to historical research and period study, to make him realize that he is looking for the natural con-
sequence that must follow the acceptance of certain ideas, and that any art expression is but the natural result of harbouring certain ideals and allowing the mind to see them as important factors in the satisfaction of life's requirements. This whole period may be said to be a transition between the adaptation of Italian styles to French use and the new idea of seeking structural and beauty elements anywhere, and using these elements in an adapted way to express the taste and intelligence of a people whose requirements or needs change as their In this way only is it possible civilization advances. to make a consistent use of the art forms of any period
in the expression of individual needs.
144
PART
II
CHAPTER VHI
THE FRENCH STYLES
THE period of
Louis XIV, Le Grand Monarque, from 1643 to 1715, is not only the longest reign of any European monarch, but also by far the most important of any
French king. The high tide of this period marks the epoch of absolute monarchy in France, and also of the crystallization of a national form of expression in all This not only greatly influenced the subsequent fields. French styles, but has been the source of inspiration in
other national period forms. Certain clearly defined conditions existed
when Louis
XIV assumed the reins of government, contributing each in its way to the climax reached during his
France had organized and partially developed a political policy whose tendency was the extension of national domain and the promotion of international
relationships. This gave an impetus to French thought, while association and contact with other lands and other
reign. First.
forms of life affected the general consciousness. Second. There had been established through the
untiring efforts of Richelieu, Mazarin, and their collaborators a respect for arts and letters, science and com-
merce, which touched the remotest parts of the kingdom, and gradually admiration for the arts became the fashion,
145
INTERIOR DECORATION
developing almost to a mania, particularly upper classes and the court.
Third.
among the
Conscious effort appears to have been divorced from religious idealism and concentrated on social evolution, which became the dominating impulse
of the rapidly developing nation. Fourth. The early isolation of the court at Versailles and the gradual magnetic influence it exerted over the beauty, talent and money of the realm, hastened the development of forms of social etiquette,
ceremonial observance and pageantry which established the social criteria for the world at large.
Through the Edict of Nantes, France was flooded by hordes of Flemish and Dutch Huguenots who were artists and craftsmen, working in all materials, ready to do the bidding of any court personage whose whim and resources permitted creation in any field.
Fifth.
This variety of craftsmen, the excellence of their work, and the wealth of material at their command aided no little the growth and maturity of this entirely new French period art expression. It must be remembered that Francis I estabSixth. lished an entirely different social domestic ideal. It has been said before that the art of France is an art preeminently for women. In no periods is this so clearly felt as in the periods of Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI. While in scale, in colour and design much of the period of Louis XIV is masculine in its feeling, the style itself and the variety of its forms is no doubt very largely influenced by the female favourites of the monarch. During the ascendancy of Madame de Montespan the
period reaches
146
its
highest form of development.
The
THE FRENCH STYLES

her indomitable will, her love qualities of the woman of show, her vanity and pride, with the refinement and
which she undoubtedly possessed are all in every object supplied the court during the seen clearly years of her most absolute sway, not alone over Louis
culture
himself, but over all those who through her influence expected and received favours. La Valliere, with less
power, made far less impress than did de Montespan while Madame de Maintenon, whose life was given to service and to the outward regeneration of the court, has left an indelible impression of heaviness, formality, lack of grace and an entire absence of the playful charm which the High period expresses in so
force, therefore less
;
notable a degree.
The important
Louis
fact to be retained
is
that the art of
XIV
is
dominated by female
influence,
and that
this influence, increasing, finds its climax of perfection in the following reign, when Louis expresses it most
XV
completely.
another condition which has no little bearing on the remarkable crystallization of the style This is the period of absolutism in of Louis XIV.
There
is still
which the monarch declared himself the church and the state. All impulses bent to the one, the aggrandizement of self and the promulgation in no uncertain terms of the absolute monarchical ideal. This in no little measure is the reason for the gradual disappearance of the influences of the Italian Renaissance, the Saracenic invasion, which came through Spain, and of the Teutonic motif. It resulted in the ultimate crystallization of a united French form of expression.
Perhaps an examination into the
effects of these
147
INTERIOR DECORATION
influences will serve to establish a mental connection
which
will give the period of Louis decorative idea.
XIV
a place in the
First of
all,
this
new concentrated
social ideal de-
veloped the most magnificent and ornate display of modern times. The wealth of material, its luxurious
combinations and its military effects, have been the admiration of the unthinking from that day to this. Again, the whole palace at Versailles, with its walls, its ceilings, its accessory objects, formed a vast stage setting for the most extravagant pageants in court life that history records. The thought of the palaces as a suitable background against which to show furniture or people was furthest from the Louis XIV idea. The palace produced a scenic effect into which the most gorgeous costumes, the most subtle, and still pretentious, manners and customs, the most ornate and unrelated forms, were constantly to be seen moving to and fro. Consequently the result must be overdone,
heavy, mixed and whimsical, so far as its applications life are concerned. To be sure, there was good and bad in the materials used, in the designs prepared, in the technique of the work done and in the caprices that inspired it. But the aggregate of these things produced a mixed effect beyond ordinary comprehension, and too involved to be a part of anything except the most luxurious, richto real
and most presuming of all possible interior expresEven then it must be readapted, refined and worked out by the most artistic hands in order to make it appear as anything else than a grand ballroom or
est
sion.
hotel dining-room
148
when seen as a full blaze of glory.
THE FRENCH STYLES

It
is
important that we should not confuse the archi-
tecture with the interior furnishings and decorations of the period called Louis XIV. Let us remember that
there were two sets of ideas seeking prevalence in France. The classic idea, with all that it expresses
in temperance, simplicity, consistency
and
sincerity,
and practised by a certain class of persons of education, men of letters and of the arts, while directly opposed to it was the extravagant exposition of the most radical humanistic tendencies. This accounts, in the main, for the two types of literature then prevalent and for the development of classic
was
still
revered, taught
This phase is represented by exterior architecture. the fagade of the Louvre, of Versailles, and kindred
These forms of French arbuildings of this period. chitecture more nearly expressed the Italian spirit and are more readily adapted to modern conditions
than are any of the French periods, with the possible exception of the late Louis XV, when the classic impulse tended toward refinement and a reduction in scale, so that gem, the Little Trianon.
It
is
it
produced the
historic
which found its reincarnation in architecture so wonderfully wrought, failed to make any decided impress on
interesting to see
this classic idea,
how
either the architecture of the interior or the objects used in its furnishing. It is true that classic deco-
motifs appear in the period of Louis XIV, changed are they and in general so submerged in other decorative forms that they count
rative
but
for
so
little,
and the
letter rather
than the
spirit is per-
ceived.
149
INTERIOR DECORATION
The
decorative motifs
:
may
be classed under three
distinct heads
There are and dentil and used as form to the

used.
the classic motifs egg-and-dart, astragal remade in form, readapted in scale, borders and mouldings to give place and
other types with which they are always
is
which shows rapid changes from the well-formed shell of the early days to the parted motif which in the end became the rococo or rocaille so familiar in this and the following period. From the Italian scroll, filtered through Flemish usage and adapted by the French, comes the form which is really the controlling one in the decorative
there
Then
the
shell,
expression of the entire period.
The
naturalistic or
humanistic influence, which never conventionalizes or considers materials, was introduced in flower, animal
and human form, representing as nearly as that for which each object stands in nature.
possible
The combination of these three types what is known as the Louis XIV motif
motifs are arranged in commingled, whether carved, cast, chiselled, or painted, so as to produce certain qualities in appearance for
form These style. bisymmetric form, mingled and

of motif
which the period is valuable to us, and which we may use in adapted form It will be seen here that there is no relationship established between the room as a background and furniture, decorative objects, persons and the other important things. Remember that the scenic effect of the thing itself is the idea for which the thing exists, rather than as a suitable background effect against
150
THE FRENCH STYLES

which rarer and more important things may be propNeither is there a thought in this grand erly exploited. of restfulness, quietness, unassuming refinement period and sincerity of expression which marks the more It is these qualities of which we in this classic periods.
generation are so greatly in need. The furniture of this period expresses two remarkably opposed ideas. In structure it is rectangular and
formal, huge in scale, mixed in material.
tions
Its decora-
and sometimes
its
upholstery appear as informal
motifs,
non-structurally treated, playfully arranged,
and often so mixed and intermixed that the story of their application to a structural form becomes untranslatable, and one abandons the whole as a maze through which he is unable to direct his thought. The study of the period shows the colour to be, in
the early part, a readaptation of the colours of the High Renaissance in Italy. Dark red, old gold, dark green
and dark blue predominate.

middle value, the
motifs
idea.
These tones are below
textiles are rather simple, Italian
dominating
As
simplicity being the key the period progresses these colours became
and
more mixed and, finally, toward the latter part of the period, more naturalistic in their motif with a larger number of colours used in each
a
little lighter,
design.
Our object
in
their results has
looking into these influences and been to awaken the reader, first, to
is a direct relationship of cause and between the ideal dominant in the public mind and the art expression which is the result of needs arising from this state of consciousness. Again, it
the fact that there

effect
151
INTERIOR DECORATION
has been the aim to lead the reader to see that national feeling is the expression of a national idea and that, while it expresses perfectly that idea, it may be, and probably
is,
useless
when employed
to express
any other idea
if
copied in
It
is
is
its original
form and manner.
also important to know that, while all this true, certain elements, structural facts, decorative
motifs, colour combinations, furniture and creations may be in themselves beautiful.
ornament
If
they
are so, and their design qualities are realized, each and all of these are possible elements for use in expressing a new set of ideas. It is to prevent the mistake of
believing that a Louis XIV room should be reproduced under modern conditions that this viewpoint has been
given.
We
first
must
see
it
as the expression of clear-cut

it
qualities of the life
which gave
birth.
The
quality of this period
may
be said to be
that of military formality. The monarch himself, though but five feet two inches tall, is always spoken
and thought of as expressing a high type of military dignity and precision. This quality is reflected in the entire art of the period. It is heavy and dominant in its scale; it is a scenic panorama of mixed motifs
of
with diversified treatments, gradually becoming amalgamated into one general feeling of structural and French adaptation. This military, formal, dominating manner unites with it as time goes on a growing refinement of detail in single objects which is almost lost in the dazzling brilliancy with which each thing
or
detail
is
forced
to
become
an
associate
ele-
ment.
The adaptation
of the period of Louis
XIV must
THE FRENCH STYLES

be
made
to
rooms
in
which the
qualities just discussed
are the ones to be brought out in the decoration, but the period itself is far less valuable for present use than it is as a key to the understanding of the
two periods immediately following
it.
153
PART
CHAPTER IX
THE REGENCY AND THE PERIODS OF LOUIS XV AND XVI

THE
regency, which is the period of transition between the styles of Louis XIV and Louis XV, gave, through the character and activities of the Regent and his court,
an added impetus to the
forces inaugurated
by Louis
XIV. By a less thoroughly organized political system, a more flagrant disregard of the rights and customs of social relations, and by an open opposition to ethical and religious influences, this period prepared the minds
of the people of
which
France for the period of Louis XV, to said to be the logical preface. be may The great tax system of Louis XIV had so depleted the public treasury and exhausted the resources of the people at large that supplies for the maintenance of the ceremonial which characterized this monarch's reign could not be obtained under existing conditions. Energy was devoted to securing ready money rather than the installation of a system which should gradually supply future needs. The social questions became a matter of
it
open court
regarded as
Manners and customs, heretofore somewhat private in their nature, were openly paraded as a natural and logical method of living. Writers and social dignitaries openly scorned ethical forms and religious customs which had hitherto received
gossip.
154
THE REGENCY
consideration at least as matters of outward obser-
vance.
The excesses of the Regent and his intimates were of few years duration, but they established a precedent which worked out in the period of Louis XV into a welldefined
manner
of living.
meant, This resulted in a less gorgeous display on a ous scale in useful and decorative objects.
of course, less
Less public money to spend material for creative purposes.

less
ponder-
A less clearly defined outward appearance of decency

gave great liberty to the already overwrought imaginations of the people of the court and the artists men who created for them. stronger
and craftsand more
firmly felt female domination reduced the art expression in amount of material, in scale, in variety of form and in colour choice. A less formal, less dignified and less
heavy structure also resulted and a decorative arrangement which bespoke the whims and caprices of the intelligent, sometimes refined, but extravagant ideas of
the dominating influence.
radical change in this period is seen in the growing popularity of the Flemish curve and the cabriole leg which had already been more or less exploited
The most
through the Huguenot influence from Flanders and England. The cabriole leg became the usual support in This selecchairs, divans and sometimes in consoles. tion made essential the choice of curved lines to represent the structural limitations of these articles of
furniture.
In harmony with this idea the curved treatment of the Flemish scroll and the already popular rococo motif appear in carved wood, sometimes in composition, and not infrequently in metal ornament.
155
INTERIOR DECORATION
and ornament received their share of playful Colour choice was lighter in value, inexploitation. tense and lavishly mixed in hue. Ornamental pieces in pottery and metal were designed, and sold when
Textile
possible, regardless of their consistency with the fur-
nishing objects to be associated with them. The style can scarcely be said to be of sufficient im-
portance to receive special treatment except as it gives a prefatory insight into those phases of life which so greatly influenced the art of Louis XV. It also gives the origin and reason for the seeming return in furniture construction to curved-line feeling, cabriole support and a finer scale than that which expressed the art
form
of Le Grand Monarque and his gorgeous court. The period of Louis XV from 1715 to 1774 marks
the
high tide of the French decorative styles. This is the climax of a materialistic ideal, the full flower of all those Renaissance tendencies established by Francis I and so
strongly intrenched by Louis XIV. It shows the effect of two centuries of development in which the social ideal
preeminent, and luxury, sensuous pleasure and personal gratification are the avowed ideals of life. It full of the a harvest all ills in the attendant train reaps
is
it develops in their evolution and masensuous turity conscious, beauty of form, line, material and colour, and a delicacy of technique with a refined unified expression never equalled before or since in any period art expression of a social type.
of such ideals, but
This period stands without challenge as the most sensuously beautiful, subtly refined and masterly handled of any period upon which a people has unconsciously impressed its type of the social domestic ideal.
156
THE REGENCY
Because this is so, the period of Louis XV is of inestimable value in working out our national and personal problems wherever our ideals touch this great era of art which was devoted to sensuous beauty. The forces or impulses which actuated the period of the regency were, though at first not outwardly prominent, the keystone upon which this period is built. The
monarch himself in early life reticent, delicate and magnetic was a great personal favourite with all who knew him. By his charm of manner he revivified the
flagging interests of the tired court, reinspired the min-
and recreated, by modifying the methods XIV, a new French ideal. In his time the court was no longer a magnificent, ponderous and scenic
isters of state,
of Louis
show, but a collection of favoured per sons, born to luxury and enjoyment, to whom pleasure was the key to life's
highest attainment, while isolation and mystic solitude in the conduct of court affairs silenced public clamour.
Gradually the favourites of Louis XV gained over him such power that the appointment of ministers, their dismissal, the granting of pensions, distribution of public
expenditures and court etiquette were almost entirely in their hands. With the ascendancy of Madame de Pompadour these influences reached their zenith of
strength. Although others took her place in the fickle attentions of the king, she never lost her hold on this dominating personality, but continued to control not
only the laws but the customs and finances of France. Clever to the last degree, she not only bent her energies to hold this influence and use it for the exaltation and satisfaction of her friends and herself, but she even used
the weaknesses of the king as an excuse for the profligate
157
INTERIOR DECORATION
expenditure of money to satisfy the whims of other ladies less fortunate than she. The influence of all this on the art expression of the time was tremendous. It resulted in constant changes in decorative style, and these changes were made upon the already developed backgrounds of Louis XIV and
the regency. Some new buildings were erected, and these, like those of the preceding reigns, still show the
strongly intrenched classic influence in the architectural field.
The
fullest
interiors
were a modification of the previous
styles with the elimination of the classic idea and the development of the humanistic, naturalistic, rocaille idea inaugurated by the regency. Such rooms
seldom present a background sufficiently obscure or plain to connect in the best way with the furniture and furnishings for which they should have been designed. This statement in no way challenges the beauty of some of the walls and ceilings of this period. Rather it
is intended to convey the idea that the panelled arrangements and the decorative ornament each in itself is often exquisitely beautiful in composition and decorative effect, but they are not, unless greatly simplified in amount, in colour and in arrangement, suited to our problem of a background against which modern people in modern clothes and with modern manners are to appear. One more important step in the evolution of the background is the simpler way in which the walls were panelled, the treatment of ornament within these panels
often leaving a restful blank space in the centre, and the general structural placing of this ornament
although curve lined in

158
its
nature and general feeling,
THE REGENCY
This period
is
further characterized
It
by the
total
seems quite impossible to believe that the building of the Great Trianon, the Church of the Madeline, and the beginning of the Little Trianon with its classic meaning should show nothing in the interior decorative idea that seemed wholly Not only are the motifs absent but related to them. the general feeling which they would insure is lost in the
elimination of the classic motif.
exploitation of the rocaille and the naturalistic motif. These motifs always appear in the non-bisymmetric aris one of the distinguishing The marcharacteristics of the period of Louis XV. vellous way in which the occult balance of motifs is
rangement, which in truth
worked out
in
each
field of
expression
for distinguishing the Louis
XV
the key often from the Louis XVI

is
motif treatment.
Furniture followed quite closely the structural tendencies of the regency just preceding. It became smaller
in scale, still in
more graceful and sensuous, was expressed more materials, and ranged widely from very much
little
decorated to very
decorated structural
effects.
Chairs, divans, consoles and even cabinets and other articles, are made in natural walnut, beautifully shaped,
and sometimes upholstered in tapestry whose texture, motif and colour express the same
exquisitely carved
general feeling as that of the natural wood. One can hardly conceive wooden chairs of this period covered with fragile taffeta or a finely felt brocade whose
them to quite another type of the natural companion of the other type which is either gilded or enamelled in old ivory or beautiful grays. This treatment has the effect
texture
relate
this period style.
and colour
It
is
159
INTERIOR DECORATION
them and giving them a genuinely feminized appearance. The same qualities are often found in a
of refining
scale
still
further reduced where the chairs are fitted
only for a
drawing-room or a woman's boudoir. The wide range of materials in which furniture

is
is
made
of great assistance in the choice
style in wood in
and use of this modern composition. Another treatment of side pieces is found in lacquer and the applicaThis combination of wood
tion of a metal ornament.
lacquer and metal would seem most incongruous. In other periods it would be so but in the period of Louis
;
XV powerful technique with a perfect conception of balanced relationships made it possible to use even incongruous materials and sometimes incongruous motifs. The result was, sometimes, a most appealing article, which, by virtue of these qualities, appeared to be a unit when completed. It would be dangerous, however, in most cases, to accept as possible the combinations in decorative materials used in the period of Louis XV. For the motifs themselves much may be said. To understand the feeling produced by the union of the ideas which these motifs exemplified one must bear in mind the development of the rocaille unit with all sorts of modifications and in all kinds of combinations. It seems incredible that the shell or rock shell motif could be combined with the Flemish scroll, and not only express an unlimited number of subtle and sensuous designs but also that these decorative designs should finally take the place of the very structure itSo prodigally was this idea developed, and so lavishly was the decorative quality applied, that in
self.
many
160
pieces, particularly in consoles, the motif be-
H
02
.| O
W r^ _ ^ Q ^
^ < O 02 ^ a K W a 02 W ^ M H 5 <
r-,
'
i
> x & 02 ^ 3 H
o &
^
-vj
fa
p O g p O <
s
cq :j
ag
G3 fc 03
< H O
THE REGENCY
came the
structural fact
and the supports were
in-
adequate, insincere, inconsistent and wholly opposed to the idea of strength, fitness or structural form.
This fact shows that the intemperate or inordinate use of any decorative form, or of decorative forms in any combination, may lead even the most careful into a misconception of what decoration is, how it is to be used, and what its relation is to the structural
idea.
Where
fitness to use is the first consideration
in
any object made, structure must dominate decora-
tion.
The second
istic.
be called the naturalAll of the tendencies of the time led to an admiraset of motifs
may
tion for
in
and cultivation of natural objects, particularly gardens and grounds, which logically brought these
things into use for decorative purposes. The influences, too, outside of France (the Oriental and the Decadent
Italian)
tended toward the representation of men, animals and flowers combined in one unit or one object in such a way that by suggestion the result was either
nauseating, grotesque, or beautifully fantastic, according to the skill of the artisan.
The
idea,
period of Louis
XIV
embraced
this naturalistic
and the period
of Louis
XV used it in the expres-
which the period stood. natural of flowers, very suggestive cupids, Very gardens very naturalistic lords and ladies and very intimate ceresion of the social ideals for
monials were combined with the rocaille motifs, particularly in tapestries, paintings and the decorations of
pottery.
Even on
fans, snuff boxes, buttons
articles are found,
handled in
and other small the most extraordinary

161
INTERIOR DECORATION
manner, naturalistic pictures whose charm the delicacy of their treatment, the exquisite garments which are represented and the spirit of the
delicate
lies in
and
time which they so clearly reflect. When examined from the standpoint of decoration, they of course lack the fundamental qualities of the decorative idea, except as it appears, in this extraordinary period, to be in harmony with the other modes of expression. In colour the period of Louis XV presents a considerIn tapestries the backgrounds able range of choice. are light and are worked with the idea of background
.
these appear various human incidents, flower forms and other motifs in a pictorial way. The
effect.
Upon
not very dark or very light, but somewhere around middle value. The period, however, is more generally expressed in brocades of gorgeous colgeneral effect
is
ours and wondrous weaves, and in taffeta and damask whose quality and texture bespeak the same refined
and extravagant sense.

which, when
A printed linen was also made, contrasted with the same material in
England, gives one a keen sense and appreciation of the qualities in this period of Louis XV. These, like tapestries, seem to present a value a little above or a little below middle, never strong and rugged, seldom
weak and insipid. The hues of colours used
are inexhaustible.
It
is
the
French period for the development of colours. There seems to be the widest range of colour choice of any period in France, and probably of any period of human expression. This is due probably to extravagance in all fields, to the desire of each person to outdo his neighbour, and to the fact that nature, to be at all ade1612
THE REGENCY
quately expressed, requires the whole range of the colour
spectrum.
The
life
colours of this period are quite intense and have a and sparkle which is softened wonderfully by time
and sometimes by the combinations of the colours themselves. A certain vitality and imaginative effect is presented which make textiles of this period particularly interesting to study.
Much, very much, might be

of smaller decorative articles.
said of the development
Their name is legion, their varieties innumerable; but they, one and all, seem to owe their existence to the same underlying ideas, and each undoubtedly expresses as nearly as This is what every art possible the answer to a demand. object in every period does if it submits to the influence
of the period.
In summing up this period of Louis XV it is perhaps sufficient to say this is the social period of French
art in which
full
two centuries
of national
life
find their
flower in an art expression which combines the
weakness and the strength of the system which it When seen purely from an artistic standrepresents. point, no period in France, and few in history, contribute so clearly defined an elemental force for design and composition; few periods are less suited to modern use except through adaptation, and few in selective quality
are so
little
understood.
is
a style in which the power of keen disis the key to successful use. This discrimination must come not from the acceptance of all things in the period of Louis XV as good, but from a
This, too, crimination
most intimate knowledge
of
what
is
being expressed
163
INTERIOR DECORATION
and how
it
has been done.
One must never
fail
to
reckon with the forms, the scale, the material and the colour, in their various combinations as they relate to the aesthetic ideal.
He must compute
their
value and, knowing his
own problem,
use with the ut-
most
ideas.
discretion these subtle forces to express subtle These ideas are generally out of place when
by themselves, but, when and interrelated with others, may form commingled one of the most pleasing of all period suggestions. The period of Louis XVI, from 1774 to 1793, perhaps developed its fundamental idea more radically
seen in huge groups or entirely
than any other in so short a time. During the period of Louis XIV two fundamental impulses or strains of domination are clearly defined, namely the classic and the naturalistic. These were fused into a unit in which the latter is prominent in the decorative scheme and the former in the architectural idea. The period of Louis XV expresses the culmination, decline and extinction of this idea as used for merely sensuous
:
exploitation.
period of Louis XVI stands for the fall of this ideal and the restoration of the classic to first place in
The
always had held in French architecture. At the death of Louis XV the people of the French court were surfeited and debauched by pleasure, and their very nature cried out for rest and change. The finances of the country were drained by reckless extravagance while money The for increased splendour was not forthcoming. people were in no frame of mind to submit to further
the decorative
field,
it
which was the place
taxation or to continue the old methods of supplying

164
THE REGENCY
the royal treasury. Dissatisfaction was rampant not only in Paris but in the outlying communities, and murmurs of revolt were not infrequent before the accession of Louis
XVI. The new king came
to the throne under the
trying circumstances in any period of history.

simple, reticent and retiring, with taste for extremes in anything.
brilliant
no
initiative
most He was and no
mind and the
The strong will, the resourcefulness of Louis XIV
might have balanced the ship of state for a time at least, but Louis XVI, with little insight into national conditions, was totally unfitted for the task of reestabThe new lishing a safe basis for his government. queen, Marie Antoinette, brought up in the strict
Austrian court, simple, childish, exuberant, frivolous in nature, shrank intuitively from all that the life at She began her life a mere child Versailles expressed. in France, and when called to the throne was nothing more than a child in aims, desires and experience. It is astonishing that the development of this period was so rapid, and I do not hesitate to believe that she played a more important part in its development than
any other one person, and that the influences which she championed were responsible in a great degree for the majority of the changes wrought. Very early, and very positively, she withdrew herself and her suite from the deceits and inconsistencies of the palace to the Little Trianon, and proceeded to build around her a different life from that instituted by the traditions of the palace. Her almost childish love of sports, her desire for simple things, combined inherent strong, with a childish disregard of money values and a desire
165
INTERIOR DECORATION
to take a democratic part in everything she saw, led to some indiscretions, which I believe were frequently
interpreted falsely.
personal influence thrown to the side of classicism, but she sought to surround herself with those persons whose ideals were of a nature similar
to her own.
Not only was her
Mingled with
this classic idea
is
the
girl-
ish, playful, buoyant, animal life which must express itself even under classic restrictions.
of the results of this period are too far reaching to be ignored. The withdrawal of the queen and her suite to the Little Trianon was the first great step
Some
in the return to a domestic ideal.

sailles
The
palace at Ver-
was a theatre and a showground during the In the Little reign of Louis XIV and Louis XV. Trianon refined and sane human beings might well live surrounded by those beautiful things which were
harmony with the house. The treatment walls and ceilings, not to mention the chimney
in
of the
pieces,
eloquently confirms the truth of this statement. Few architects, interior decorators, or even artists recognize
the importance of the treatment of walls and ceilings, not to mention chimney pieces.
A
idea.
great change was

its walls, floor
made
and
in the restoration of the
room,
ceiling, to
the background
one can see the intimate rooms of Marie Antoinette without feeling keenly the struggle that must have ensued before the beautifully spaced, finely panelled and sensibly decorated walls could have supplanted the gorgeous ponderous collection of trash of which the palace at Versailles is a constant reminder.
Furniture in this period, when the wall was established
166
No
THE REGENCY
as a background, returned to rectangular or partially rectangular structure; the supports were vertical, the cabriole leg disappeared, the contour was curved and
straight, or sometimes well spaced straight, the proportions dignified though tiny, consistent, though at times a little dramatic. As to the number and importance of
was no great change from the previous period. They were also produced in natural wood, coloured and enamelled, with enamel, perhaps, in the asarticles, there
cendancy. One can less easily conceive this style in natural wood, yet a room in which all enamelled furniis used is often tiresome and uninteresting, and the discreet use in this period of walnut, enamel and colour, in the same room was too exquisite to be passed with-
ture
out comment. To know when and how much of each of these to use is to be conscious of the two influences of the period, and also to understand artistic requirement in composition where variety is to be considered. The ornament was classic, strongly so, in that it was applied structurally, and many of the classic motifs retained their original fine proportions. The whole treatment, however, was in a scale so entirely foreign to the original classic idea that one can scarcely make a comparison. The lighter side of the influence expressed
itself in garlands of flowers, delightful little cherubs, love birds, bow and arrows, love knots and the like, all of which, expressing the clean, human, childish qual-
ities of
To
the queen, constituted the ruling idea. grasp in its entirety the wonderful change, one
needs to study comparatively the painted surfaces of this and the last period, the treatment of flowers, garlands, cherubs, human figures, etc., and judge for him167
INTERIOR DECORATION
self
the qualities of mind which brought out each of the

of feeling Verily, classic
two types
fields.
and expression in these artistic domination and a clean idea has

Motifs
wrought wonders!
Textiles presented a wide field of expression.
were smaller, colours
mixed; bisymmetric, as in fact did most other ornament. Things seemed to right themselves by the law of gravitation
less
floral
patterns became
and to assume at least a miniature appearance of digWhile inconsistencies existed at times between nity. the scale of ornament in textiles and the furniture with which it was used, there was plenty of room in this
period for selection of things in perfect harmony in motif, in scale, in material and in colour. This selective
quality in combination, as has been so often said, key to the true expression of the period of Louis
If there is
is
the
XVI.
an excess
in the use of decorative
in this period, it is found oftenest ornamental bric-a-brac. Un-
doubtedly much of this could have been dispensed with, but the wonder is that so much was left out and not that more might have been. If we can eliminate in the same ratio unnecessary and inappropriate things, to-day our houses may become not only modest, but expressive of a taste scarcely equalled in any age. To summarize the period of Louis XVI is the restoration of sanity in French expression. It is the redominaThis ideal is expressed, to be tion of the classic ideal. in a somewhat sure, dramatic, childish, miniature picture form, but the element is there nevertheless. It marks the beginning of an understanding of the relation between the walls, ceiling and floor and the furnishings of a house, and also of the relation between a house and
:
168
THE REGENCY
the individuality of the one who must live in
personality
is
it
and whose
by it. Its adaptation to too apparent to need further remark. It is not essential to speak just now in detail of the periods of the Directory, the Restoration, the Constimodern usage
is
to be expressed
The Empire is the most intertution, nor the Empire. in its influence of these, but for and far esting reaching
our purposes in treating the French styles, its elements are non-essential. It has been the aim in treating of these styles in a limited manner to select causes, examine
their effects, define their qualities, forces for use in modern life.
and indicate
their
169
PART
II
CHAPTER X
THE TUDOR PERIOD THE ENGLISH STYLES

England. The RenThis was also true of the Gothic in England, although the Gothic was indigenous to France. The Renaissance was a natural out-
AS
was in France so was it aissance was an affected style.

it
in
come
Italy.
of geographical position
and
of social evolution in
The English adopted the Renaissance as a new interesting means of expressing national ideas. They adopted the forms rather than the ideas for which
and
always the case, these forms were at first copied, and later modified, into what may be The styled the English expression of Italian ideas. development of these forms in England, however, was considerable, although neither so complete nor so distinctive as those in France under the inspiration of
they stood, and, as
is
Francis
I.
In order to make a simple comparison between these clearly understand the fundamental qualities of the English form, it is well to consider first some of the elements concerned
two national types that we may the more
in their development.
of the people of any country It is is the greatest factor in the evolution of its art. their daily activities that determine the needs of the
first place,
life
In the
the
time,
170
and these needs are
satisfied
by the normal pro-

duction of such objects as are essential. These objects accordingly represent the art of the nation.
to the last quarter of the fifteenth century the English people may be said to have developed rugged,
Up
individual but primitive expressions of their This is partly due to the geographical social ideal.
solid,
Great Britain. By its position it is cut off from other types of life with which it might have, under
isolation of different circumstances,
commingled.
It
is
also due, in
part, to the fact that the national mind had given its attention to political rather than social development. But, most of all, it may be attributed to the mixed
which we call the English temperament. Perhaps we can perceive something of this temperamental
qualities
aggregate by noticing for a moment the strains of influence which are fused together in the comprehensive
term "the British nation." This people is Celtic in origin, and while perhaps little of the Celtic quality remains in England, much of the
feeling
is still
and no doubt hereditary
present in the quality of the Irish mind, strains are clearly traceable
to this origin even in the English. Before the beginning of the Christian era the Romans had invaded the British
By the beginning of the fourth century England was practically under their domination, and to this day appear inerasable marks of the power of that
Islands.
mighty nation.
The
of the
social
lish
early Britons mingled with
Roman
life,
traditions,
and absorbed many particularly in political and
which remain as mountain-top traits in Engmodern life. In the first place, English law is based
law.
somewhat upon Roman
Much
of jurisprudence,
171
INTERIOR DECORATION
political organization,
and
desire for territorial expan-
sion, as well as substantial, formal, warlike measures,
are of
Roman origin. These elemental factors have pro-
duced qualities of solidity, strength, formality, conservatism and fearlessness, which are fundamentals in the English character and are clearly discernible in their art.
Before the eighth century Roman power had gradually declined, and the invasion of the Anglo-Saxons
with their traditions of somewhat barbaric domesticity brought into the language, social forms and domestic relationships, the Teutonic qualities which are perceptible in the domestic ideals of English life. The amalgamation of the Anglo-Saxons and the added domestic ideas of the Danes furnished a remarkable complement to the formal imperialism of the Roman time. The tendency toward democratic equality, the inclination for comfort and moderation, and the distinctly non-monarchic viewpoint of these Anglo-Saxon invaders were also strong factors in the rapid development of the
home
idea in England after the beginning of the eighth
century. But this was interrupted and greatly modified by the invasion of the Norman French under Wil-
liam the Conqueror about the middle of the eleventh century. Very different was this ideal from the crude democratic social ideal of the two previous centuries. With William the Conqueror came the feudal system, with all its military power, caste system and monarchic He laid the foundation for the absolute principles. which reached its height under Henry VIII at monarchy the beginning of the sixteenth century.
Brief mention of these different races has been
172
made
here to stimulate an inquiry regarding the different

phases of the English periods in order that it may be kept in mind that the British people are the most mixed, comprehensive and varied in experience of all nations.
In consequence of this complexity, they have perhaps ideas to express and less definitely formulated traditions in one style of expression. Their ideas have been less thoroughly worked out than those of nations which have had one ideal from time immemorial, and have expressed it in traditional forms that grew more and more insistent until the climax was reached, when decadence set in and resulted in the destruction of the
more
original idea.
factor which has influenced in a large degree English art expression is their peculiar political viewpoint. In no country has there been so decided a
The second
between supreme monarchic power and demoremarkable One has only to remember the Magna Charta people. and the steps which led to it, all that followed its acceptance, the climax of absolutism under Henry VIII, the peculiar strategic ideal of Elizabeth, the ups and downs of the Stuart dynasty, the peculiar outcome of the Dutch regime under William and Mary, the vicissitudes of the Georges, and the remarkable constitutional monarchy under Victoria, to see how difficult it is to consider the English periods as expressing monarchic In France the period of Francis I or ideas alone. Louis XIV or Louis XV was dominated supremely by the monarch and his associates. The corresponding English periods, while somewhat under the direction of
conflict
cratic ideals as in the national history of this
the monarch, owed their origin to national ideas rather
than to monarchic whims.

173
INTERIOR DECORATION
The third factor which has played no small part in the development of the people is their attitude to the Christian religion, which was generally embraced by
the beginning of the fifteenth century.
The English
less
Church, though
clearly
Roman
in its origin,
was always
with the general movement than were By the last days of the fifteenth century, when Henry VII had completed the chapel in Westminster Abbey, the Gothic influence
identified
those of the continent.
had spent its force, and already the secular in life was making itself felt. This period in England corresponds to that of Louis XII in France. The English up to this time had less contact with Italy and other continental countries than had France, and had developed a very crude type of interior architecture and domestic
furnishing.
and during the reign

to a degree.
The houses were mostly made of wood of Henry VII became picturesque
While we must ignore architecture in its exterior forms in this book, a general feeling for the "Englishman's home as his castle" will be found in the middle and upper class house of the period just named. The furnishings, it is true, were crude and consisted mainly of a Gothic chest, a roughly finished oak table, a possible bread and cheese cupboard and primitive benches. Unlike those of the same period in France, they were lacking in structural niceties and subtle decorative Gothic ornament. The home idea, however, was innate and the head
of the family supreme, while the individual rights of the family were jealously maintained. The days of
Henry VIII and the establishment

174
of the English

in its present form, with the king as the hereditary head, the constant conflict between the mother
Church
church and the reformed faith, the dissensions and separations consequent upon this conflict, are too well known to require more than a passing word. The type of religion or religious form which prevailed influenced
greatly the art of the time and, sometimes, dominated
style.
its
With these four great influences in mind, and with a mental picture of the English people, one is fitted, with the aid of imagination, to understand the meaning of the Renaissance in England. The art periods may be summarized as follows The Tudor period from about 1500 to 1603.
:
The Stuart period from 1603 to 1688. The Dutch influence from 1688 to 1750. The Individual period from 1750 to 1837. The Victorian period from 1837 to 1900. The New Renaissance from 1900 to the present day. For our purposes the Tudor period may be divided that of Henry VIII, who came to the into two parts
throne in 1509 and died in 1547, and that of Elizabeth, extending from the time she came to the throne in
1558 to her death in 1603.
The
little
reigns of
Mary Tudor and Edward VI made
impress on the period and need not be mentioned
Sometimes writers have classed this entire period as Elizabethan, and have spoken of the Tudor as the period including the reigns of Henry VII and VIII. It seems to me, however, that a clearer idea may
here.
be obtained by looking at the Tudor period as the expression of two distinct types of ideas.
175
INTERIOR DECORATION
Henry VIII is characterized by some remarkable changes. The climax of absolute rule enabled the king and his ministers to dominate in a
reign of
large measure the public mind, while the religious attitude of the country was so modified that the favour-
The
the king (his wife for the time being) had a great deal of influence on the development of the style. This new attitude in English court life to the domestic idea
ite of
had a general bearing on the rapidity with which the style was evolved. We must not spend time in discussing the phenomenal evolution of the English house, though a familiarity with its history will add greatly to one's appreciation of its furnishings and fittings. With the establishment of the new English church form and with the domestic ideal determined by the king and his court, some fitting expression of these ideas would naturally be sought. Their attention was
turned to Italy. Italian furniture, textiles, ornament and even the artists themselves were brought into England. These arrivals increased with the ascendancy of Anne Boleyn, and continued after she gave place to others. The style then prevailing may be said to be a modification of the Italian Renaissance without a proper conception of the interior as a setting for the requisite furnishings.
first
his reign are responsible for the Elizabethan period, its maturity is found in the days of Elizabeth herself, and for that reason we deal
While Henry VIII and
with
idea.
176
the
Elizabethan
of
period
as as
the
culminating
old
expression
what
is
known
the
English
AN OLD ENGLISH CABINET WHOSE MATERIAL, SIZE AND STRUCTURE EXPRESS THE QUALITIES OF THE ELIZABETHAN PERIOD; BUT WHOSE GENERAL PROPORTIONS OF FORM, PANELS, MOULDINGS AND LINES SUGGEST THE RESTRAINT, SIMPLICITY AND CONSISTENCY OF THE
CLASSIC.

In the reign of Elizabeth interiors reached the stage of development in which the pointed Gothic hammerbeam roof with its modifications had given place to a The walls during flat modified Renaissance ceiling. in three or four distinct were this period panelled types of oak panelling, each an evolution from the other, each gradually dropping its carved Renaissance motifs and becoming flatter with fewer and less ornate mouldings. These old English panelled walls are
radiantly expressive of the dignity and sober earnestness of the period itself. Some are beautifully arranged with pilasters whose faces are carved in Renaissance
are equally beautiful, and ceilings are modifications of the Italian idea, generally in a
motifs.
The cornices
remarkably sustained way. The chimney pieces are often large, elaborately carved and chiselled, running sometimes to the ceiling itself, and heavy with Renaissance ornament and other motifs. The furniture is chiefly oak and is distinguished
by its heavy scale, the beautiful soft tones of the wood, and by the awkward proportions of the structural
features, particularly during the middle of this period.
Perhaps the most distinguishing quality is the series of huge bulges in the legs of tables and in bed posts, and the ugly proportion of the Ionic capital as it was used with these bulges in the supports of tables, beds and on cabinets. The surfaces of these supports are a mass
of carving, crudely wrought and often badly proportioned, but rich in general effect. They bespeak a desire to accomplish in English scale and feeling the
same result that Francis I developed in working out the idea in the supports of the furniture in the period
177
INTERIOR DECORATION
which he dominated.
The
difference in effect,
how-
ever, is remarkable. Articles of furniture were few in
days of Elizabeth. the bread and cheese cupboard, which served for almost anything that was to be put out of sight, the huge oak table with its ponderous top and often badly proportioned legs, the crude bench which took the place of chairs at the table, the bed, wood canopied with huge bulbous posts, the wainscot chair, wood throughout, almost grotesque in its form and ornament, and various chests which naturally followed the Gothic chest of
the period preceding. Panelled walls at first were covered with huge tapestries, and the floor with rushes or a kind of straw to
soften sound
little
number even in the Those most commonly found were
and make the room more comfortable.
later, through the influence of the wonderful Holbein, portraits were developed which, in spirit and technique as well as in size and form, found a proper
place over the chimney pieces and on the walls of these heavily panelled oak rooms to which they lent a needed
richness.
In the early forms of the banquet hall with its Gothic vaulted ceiling, its huge tapestried walls, its floors strewn with rushes upon which the hunting dogs lay at the feet of their masters, heads of deer and other animals found a fairly suitable place upon the walls as they were
hung amid the helmets, armour and hunting implements of the masters of the house. Picture, for a moment, this banquet hall and the zoological ornaments which seem a natural part of it, and then consider the inappropriateness of transferring this armour, 178

these implements, and these deer heads to a modern, six-
teen-by-eighteen Chippendale-furnished dining-room. Is it any wonder that there is need for the study of
period art to see where the mistreatment of the traditions of bygone ages has brought us?
textiles of this period are dark, rich tapestries, Rich indeed were they in the velvets and damasks.
The
days of Henry VIII, while they were dark and formal The remarkable harmony of in the days of Elizabeth. these and their surroundings relation between value the explains the sombre impressiveness of the period known
as the Elizabethan.
The
itself
application of the Elizabethan style

Its scale
is
may be
it
suggested here.
magnificent and
lends
naturally to exploitation in expensive country houses, and is also of use in working out a scheme for
a man's room or for cafes in large hotels. It has unlimited possibilities for adaptation in the interior decoration and furnishing of theatres. American theatres have been largely a barbaric American expression of mixed French styles which mean nothing but glamour and ostentation and which serve no good purpose, since the auditorium of a theatre should be a background, keeping its place as such and giving the stage and the actors on it a chance for at least a part of the public
attention.
This Elizabethan period with its panellings, its dark, and neutral combinations, its heavy and dignified scale, should appeal more strongly than any other to people of good taste as an expression of the function of a theatre auditorium in which the size will
rich colours, its soft
permit the English
scale.
179
PART H
CHAPTER XI
THE STUART PERIOD AND THE DUTCH INFLUENCE THE

Tudor period may justly be said to stand for the Renaissance in England, for the Stuart period (1603 to 1689) is the most distinctly national of any
of the English periods. By the end of the Elizabethan period the Italian Renaissance influence had almost
Such ideas and their forms as entirely disappeared. were still in use gave way rapidly under the new regime.
sometimes styled the Jacobean, but the term is so broad because of the dissimilarity of the different parts in the period itself that it is unwise to think of it as describing any one particular phase of the three parts into which the period naturally divides
This period
is
itself.
The
reigns of
James I and Charles I mark the
first
epoch, the Commonwealth the second, and the The reigns of Charles II and James II the third.
of these rulers are
names
ideals
lives
synonymous with
certain
which are really the governing principles in the and activities of the time. The sturdy, sordid James I brought from Scotland those monarchic and religious differences which opened the way for the Puritan development and the
resultant
180
pageant, glamour, show, display and noise, the period became

expression.
Puritan
Instead
of
THE STUART PERIOD

the expression of moderation, reserve, economic conservation and personal mortification. There was no longer a tendency to use more wood, more colour or
more metal than were essential to express an idea. Both James I and Cromwell had other ways to spend the money at their command.
The
loudly
in
people,
all
particularly
the
Separatists,
taught
and practised the
strictest self-restraint
symbolic, religious or social any way might lend colour to the so-called idolatrous Personal discomfort, a revolt practices of the time. as sensual sinful, and a crusade against beauty against
fication
and decried expression which
unnecessary expenditure of money for personal gratibecame the leading ideas of the time. These tendencies culminated in the commonwealth, when all kinds of domestic objects became scant in their material and particularly uncomfortable in their construction. They were sparsely ornamented with the crudest kind of flat-faced carving and were, withal, calculated to satisfy only the absolute needs of man, disregarding entirely the aesthetic sense as well as bodily
ease.
This period, marking the first and second expressions Jacobean style, furnished the foundation for the The earliest Colonial forms in the United States. who fled to Holland and to Massachusetts thence people retained the characteristics of the English of that time, as did also those who settled Jamestown and founded the Southern colonies during the seventeenth century. New England, more than any other part of the United States, expressed for years the frugal conservatism which so manifestly dominated the Jacobean period.
of the
181
INTERIOR DECORATION
The
rapid growth of the Separatist party brought
These brought were adopted, which with them two structural ideas perhaps in part because they were economical and also because they were new. The first of these is twisted Wood, which is the dominating characteristic of chair and table supports during the period of Charles I and Cromwell. This appeared also in the days of James I, and was found in frequent use until the advent of William and Mary, but during the days of Charles and Cromwell it dominated all other styles of furniture support. The other element is known as the Flemish This scroll, which is the same that was introscroll. duced into France and used so much in the days of Henry IV, Louis XIII and Louis XIV, was in reality an Italian device which the Flemish had seized and
adopted as a national form.
to England many Flemish workers Protestants in their religious views.
who were
also
The Italian pieces, too, which came to England in the last days of the Elizabethan period no doubt influenced somewhat the adoption of this scroll idea. The
period is characterized by the use and abuse of the scroll in the backs of chairs, their unders trapping, the arms and in other parts of furniture. Sometimes these
are restrained, well carried out and structurally more or less appropriate. At other times they are wild in
their choice
and arrangement, heavy, badly spaced and ungainly, as well as inartistic in their proportions and in relationship to the article in which they are
found.
chairs of the early period are high backed, very straight, with a small wooden seat, and are uncomfortable withal. During the reign of James they were
182
The
THE STUART PERIOD

Upholstered in leather, later in velvet and, occasionDuring the reign of Charles they ally, in tapestry.
became low
in seat.
in back, rather cubical in shape and broad The seat and arms were upholstered in velvet
and even damask, as the tendency to a luxurious court life made itself felt in opposition to the strictly economical ideas of
the religious party.
The
and a
rule of Cromwell, however, produced a reaction, strict return to wood for discomfort's sake was
the law of the day. Chests were legion. These were of oak, often entirely covered in a flat-faced carving with leafage and modified Renaissance forms. They
and ugly, but interesting and somewhat attractive as expressing permanence and a primitive quality as untouched by the Renaissance idea and uncontaminated by French influence. This period had a distinct individuality up to the
were crude,
stiff
time of the accession of Charles II. Except for the Flemish influence it may be said to be strictly the exSo possible pression of the middle-class English home.
of reproduction that all sorts of modifications are already in use in this country and the department
is it
stores are alive with
Jacobean furniture, even to Jaco-
bean rocking
article of
chairs, which,
by the way,
are the last

in
form.
Jacobean Gate-legged tables are popular and seem to exuse that should be
human
made
press the same qualities as those described in chairs and other articles of furniture.
The interior was, during this period, still oak panelled,

though elaborate mouldings and Renaissance carvings were entirely out of place. Beamed ceilings not only made their appearance, but were the dominating fea183
INTERIOR DECORATION
and twisted wood was of the furniture in it. The wood was mostly oak, dark and rich in colour. The textiles which were used, and those which ought to be, represented two types.
ture of the Jacobean
room
as turned
Suffice it to say that the printed linens of the time, which were strongly contrasting in value, huge in pat-
tern and scale, and scrawly in motion, though in some instances entirely out of feeling with the period, are the
most
rich,
characteristic of
any
textile.
Velvets seemed too
except for the period of Charles II, leather too If either of brutal and damasks out of the question.
the latter are used in an adaptation of this style, they should have inconspicuous patterns in rather small scale
with fairly close values and a
dull,
unobtrusive
finish.
last part of this period, beginning with the reign of Charles II is, strictly speaking, though Jacobean, not an English art period. The sympathies of
The
He was French in ideal and practice as much as it was possible to be and maintain an apparent ascendancy over the English people. He adopted French manners and customs and was often in France, or had his workmen there, copying and adapting the ideas of Louis XIV. In a word, the period of Charles II may be said to be the Jacobean fused with the Louis XIV in a scale and colour combination and an ornament display that accorded with the The intelligence and the practices of Charles II.
the monarch were French.
student of periods will find keen enjoyment in the history of Charles II and the development of interior art which was the expression of the demand of the day. To see the Jacobean period as a whole or as the expression of one idea
184
is
quite impossible.
It
must be
THE STUART PERIOD

considered as three distinct periods, with at least two distinct ideas one the domination of all those qualities
which are summed up
in the
word Puritan; the
other,
the readaptation of the qualities of Puritanism to a profligate court life with a Louis XIV period as the
well-spring from which to
pression.
draw material
for this ex-
The period of James II does not count, and the domination of the ideas of Charles ends in the abdication of James II and the recall of Mary from the Netherlands with William, who was by birth and inheritance a democratic Dutch ruler and not an English king. To attempt to show the Palladian influence on England or the wonderful effects brought about by Inigo Jones would be the work of a volume. The omission is perhaps excusable since our aim is only to sense, if possible, the spirit of the time to such a degree that the use of objects will not be entirely the result of ignorant choice.
185
PART
II
CHAPTER
XII
THE DUTCH INFLUENCE, OR THE PERIOD OF QUEEN ANNE

AS
one reviews the successive changes that have taken place in the art of furnishing in the English styles, it will generally be found that under normal conditions the evolution from one style to another has been gradual. The characteristics and distinguishing features of the old forms became weaker, and those
of the
new
style
grew stronger by degrees until the
first
were lost in, or supplanted by, the last. This accounts in many periods for the mixed objects called transition pieces which are so troublesome to
the student of period styles.
To make
these freak
pieces special objects of study is detrimental to a general understanding of those qualities which make for It is advisable, theredistinctive period limitations.
fore, to consider first
always types of periods at the full flower of their expression rather than in the forms of the pieces just described. In no phase of applied art is this transition more clearly distinguishable than in the
styles in furniture.
The English periods are less distinctly traceable, one to the other, than those of any other country. This is due to the fact that British conservatism adopted
ideas less easily, assimilated
186
them more
slowly,
and
THE DUTCH INFLUENCE

more naturally evolved its own expressions as different ideas dominated the period. The Elizabethan and Stuart periods differed radically in the idea which they expressed, but in some ways the characteristics were identical. For example, the furniture was principally oak, carved when ornamented at all, rectangular in structure, uncomfortable and architecturally structural in its detail. The change that came about with the advent of the present style was not overwhelmingly sudden, but it was sure.
for a
Before considering these radical changes we will look moment to the causes which brought about this
revolution in the household idea.
It will be
remembered that
in 1688
James II aban-
doned the English throne for a more congenial life in France, and that his prerogative as king was assumed by one William the Stadtholder, whose reasons for succession were that he was a grandson of Charles I and also a son-in-law of James II, whose daughter, Mary, he had married. This man William, although the ruler of the democratic Netherlands, is said to have been a man who never knew when he was beaten, and he came to England with the avowed intention of becoming an absolute dictator, notwithstanding the fact that his queen had the stronger claim to supreme
authority. Life in the Netherlands at that time was pronouncedly domestic. The ideals and practices of the country
differed so decidedly from those of England that the needs of the people had produced a domestic type of furnishing not concerned with court ceremonial, but suitable for middle-class life and ordinary household
187
INTERIOR DECORATION
Dutch forms and Dutch treatment were more democratic and more varied than those found during With the Tudor or the Stuart dynasties in England. came William and the coming of shiploads of Mary Dutch furniture and furnishings, as well as hordes of Dutch court officials, artists and craftsmen. This Dutch
use.
invasion
is
the reason for the rapidly changing forms

all
of this period style.
To
be sure, not
so,
the people of England accepted
Dutch
social standards,
ence did
but gradually people of influand the rigid adherence of the court to the
methods
mother country finally resulted in placing the stamp of Dutch influence upon all things made. It followed that the period forms of the era which had passed were almost eradicated. Religious toleration had become a sufficiently fixed policy to make the church of practically no moment in
of the
Dutch Domestic period through English experience, and results in what is known as the Queen Anne period; though, in fact, Queen Anne herself had no more to do with the period than did the king of the Congo tribes, except that her tendencies as a gardener and seamstress influenced somewhat the naturalistic motifs, particularly in printed linens and embroidered tapestries. The great vogue of these tapestries was the natural outgrowth of her attitude and that of the ladies of the
is
determining the style. This period, then,
the
filtered
court to needlework.
As has been
said, the
change in period forms was
almost revolutionary. must remember that up to this time rectangular forms and straight-lined con188
We
THE DUTCH INFLUENCE

ture.
struction dominated the manufacture of English furniFlemish scrolls or curved forms were not used
in construction in the Elizabethan period
and only
in a
Jacobean period. An occasional way chair arm or back might suggest the curved line, but even this was dominated by straight ones. An important fact is that tables and chair legs were generally square or turned or twisted wood, generally straight. They were guilty of no shaping except in rare instances. The pediment and other classic structural motifs were
limited
in the
unknown.
In short, curved-line construction appeared to be studiously avoided. How remarkable a change occurred in this respect with the advent of the Dutch
influence!
Formal, unrelenting sternness gave
way
before a
fashion.
more
graceful shaping, as curves became the In Elizabethan days a chair could not be
made comfortable no matter how much it was upholstered or cushioned, but in this new type the chair began to assume the lines which the human form demands for its comfort. This idea alone is sufficient to mark a step forward
in the
development of furniture, though
this develop-
ment reached its culmination later. The proportions and quantities of material were lighter in the structure of the William and Mary period, but with Queen Anne the strength, size and scale increased again. In 1720 mahogany was introduced into England, and from then
well-nigh dominated the English expression and found its natural echo in our Colonial styles which have been so much admired
it
on
rapidly grew in favour until
it
and
in
some
cases overrated.
189
INTERIOR DECORATION
these details are compared with the cold, formal and primitive expressions of the Jacobean, with
When
the flagrantly vulgar types sometimes seen in the period of Louis XIV or the Decadent products of the late
Italian Renaissance, the
Queen Anne forms give us a
relief, and the Colonial seems a step into the when considered from the standpoint of But, light. artistic and significant form based on subtlety in proportion, scale and treatment, not all Colonial pieces are as beautiful as they are sometimes believed to be. The early part of the period marked the evolution out of the Jacobean type. Its products are distinguished by a lighter, more aspiring quality, a grace and charm acquired through the use of cane in seats and backs of chairs, a freer interpretation of the Flemish scroll, a gradual shaping of the objects to the human
sense of
and to their particular requirements. The wood was generally oak, birch or walnut, but when mahogany was introduced it rapidly took the place of all other woods, and by the end of the Queen Anne The tremendous period almost held the field alone.
figure
between the carved and turned treatment of the earlier types and the perfectly plain, flat, smooth surface of the mahogany period marks a variation
difference
found in the national adoption of the cabriole leg and the curve
in structure
is
worthy of notice. The most radical change
of its construction as represented in the contour of various articles of furniture of the period. The cab-
imported from the Netherlands, earlier from France, and still earlier from Italy, is the distinguishing characteristic not only of the Queen Anne
riole
leg,
190
THE DUTCH INFLUENCE

support, but
pendale.
it is
also that of the early
work
of Chip-
One gains perhaps as clear a conception of the difference between the French and English feeling in their treatment of this element as in any other art form of historical significance. Compare the cabriole leg of the
Queen Anne
chair in scale, in sinuousness of curve, in
beauty of proportion, in balance, with that of the ideal The latter cabriole used in the period of Louis XV.
characterized
by grace, subtlety
expresses
of balance
ness of direction
all
and sinuousthe refinement and
charm of the French idea. Often the former heavy and clumsy in scale, ugly in proportion, mechanical in curve, heavy, thick-set and ordinary gives a pretty sure key to a Queen Anne-Dutch-English feeling done in mahogany. It is not intended to brand all Queen Anne furniture as possessing these qualities and no others, but to make a general statement which is true under most
circumstances.
of old
Much of
mahogany
the inordinate family worship would be wiped out in our time if the
old pieces which have been passed down to us as products of the Colonial period could be judged by the same
standards by which we judge other things, and not by a standard in which sentimentality rules reason and intention.
this period belongs not only the credit of having begun to see furniture as related to persons and things, but to it also belongs the credit of originating a great
To
number
esting
of
new
the time.
objects to meet the domestic needs of These new iHeas found expression in interof various sizes, secretaries
191
and useful tables
INTERIOR DECORATION
and writing desks that were comfortable and possible; chairs, some to rest in, some in which to sit erect, others
apparently for show. In short, the scope of furniture from the functional standpoint was greatly enlarged, particularly during the last half of the period under
consideration.
Perhaps in no article was a greater play of fancy shown than in miro^rs^. Mirrors in the Jacobean period were non-essentials. Personal appearance during the first half of that period was not a matter for serious consideration. The period of Queen Anne seems to have found the same satisfaction in its grotesque mirror frames that it found in many of its grotesque textile motifs. Sometimes these mirrors were fairly plain excepting at the top, where a huge broken gable or a jig-sawed appearance was found quite ugly in its I have no effect and unimportant in its function. doubt that admiration for these ill-designed and too ornate mirror frames has been instrumental in clouding the vision as to what a picture frame really is for and as to which is the important thing the frame or the From both these standpoints the too elabopicture. rate working out of the mirror was a hindrance to the best understanding of an art expression when applied to these forms or related ones. As has been intimated, printed linens and needlework tapestries were the vogue of the day. Attention was turned no doubt to the French salon with its poetry, music and social chat. The salon of Queen Anne was a sewing bee of tapestry needlework. An
extraordinary
192
amount
of rather pleasing patterns in
fairly well-related colours
was developed, but a much
THE DUTCH INFLUENCE

larger
amount was not only bad
in colour
and design,
but impossible of use with objects refined in themselves. This mania for needlework embroidery spread to the States, and our Colonial handbags, bookmarks, etc., are but the fruits of the reign of Queen Anne. And " the God Bless Our Homes" and "What Is Home Without a Mother" of the Victorian era were the last gasp
same idea. word might be said in this connection about the room as a background for all these things. The work
of the
of Sir Christopher
Wren
is
too well
known
in archi-
comment. His influence was at its Fjirniture.- had accepted the pediment, the height. broken gable, and other architectural elements, not only as essentials, but as ornaments in cabinet making and
tecture to need
The Anglo -classic-Renaissance oak panelling of the Elizabethan period and the flat, almost hungry looking, adaptation of it in the Jacobean period were far too sombre and plain to harmonize
furniture decoration.
with the new idea. Under William and

large
Mary
the rooms were done in

in their
wooden panels representing
form and
/
contemporary arrangement something French styles. Windows, chimney pieces, doors, etc., were heavily capped with pediments, broken gables and other motifs of the classic adaptation. In the latter half of the period even these wood panels gave
place in some instances to plaster panelled in the same way and retaining the caps and trappings of the Wren
of the periods of
Renaissance style. In a word, then, the background idea of the room had changed. It had taken a long step toward the
193
INTERIOR DECORATION
realization of the
background for furniture, although a heaviness caused by an unpleasant scale relation is very apparent in the interior architectural features where
anything but flat. Furniture was adapted to man and his uses. Decoration was confused with ornamentation, and where ornament was used it enriched but it rarely beautified. Through the introduction and treatment of mahogany it had been made clear that it was possible to have furniture without carving or even marquetry, and a new note was struck in the function and in the decoraDomestic tive treatment of wood in cabinetmaking. ideals were triumphing over political authority and
is
the wall
religious ecstasy in the field of art creation. Too much cannot be said of the importance of this
period in striking these new notes in the evolution of the domestic idea as it has been worked out in England
one can see the Queen Anne period as responsible for these steps ahead, and at the same time realize that in doing this it lacks the aesthetic merit, the grace and charm, the almost supernatural beauty which the French and Italian periods have expressed, then he is able to give to the period of Queen Anne its just due. He is able to accept what it has done that is good, and to look to other periods for those essential qualities which were apparently overlooked in working for the domestic ends which it so splendidly
and the United
States.
If
accomplished.
194
PART
II
CHAPTER
XIII
THE PERIOD OF INDIVIDUAL CREATION CHIPPENDALE, HEPPLEWHITE, SHERATONADAM AND OTHER GEORGIAN TYPES
AT no place in
is
the development of the English people
the democratic idea for which the
Magna Charta
stood more clearly demonstrated than in the furniture and furnishing ideas of the period known as the Geor-^
Queen Anne style lasted through the reign and nearly through that of George II. At this time the Louis XV period was at its best in France. A more or less close intimacy between France and England had brought many English people of the upper classes into contact with the French salon. The gorgeous period of Louis XIV had been admired and copied in a limited way by some of the English cabinet makers, and many of them had studied at close range both the Louis XIV and Louis XV styles. The domestic tendencies of the court of Queen Anne had established a prototype in England of the French salon. It was the custom of court ladies and others to meet together for embroidery and conversation,
The gian. of George I
'
though their topics were, perhaps, less weighty or witty than those discussed in the French salon. The democratic sentiment in religion and in social practice had so permeated the core of English life that an ex195
INTERIOR DECORATION
odus to Holland and to the united colonies had been going on for over a century.
Liberty of thought in this country and in England had a wonderful effect upon the demands, and therefore upon the creations, in the applied art field of the EngAs men began to think for themselves lish people.
they began to do for themselves.
They were no
longer
willing to allow the royal will to decide the shape of a chair or how many a man should have and how he
should use them after he owned them. Each man J conceived, by an apparently simultaneous impulse, the idea that the house was the expression of the individual who lived in it and that each person had not only the right to a special design, but was in duty bound to
attempt to have something made which expressed

peculiar idea of what that object should be. One of the first persons to sense this situation
his
and act upon it was one Thomas^ Chippendale by name, whose influence between 1750 and 18(HT can scarcely be estimated. So important has he become in the study
of late English furniture that
believe everything that was designed between these dates was done by Chippendale or under his direction. Not only is this
many
but one frequently meets people who confuse the Colonial types of the time with the Chippendale style, and not a few persist in confusing Hepplewhite, Sheratrue,
ton,
Mayhew and
Too much
4
others with Chippendale. cannot be said in commendation of the
great pioneer who defied tradition, took away from royalty and the court the right to dictate styles, and freed man to express himself in any way he saw fit,
Yet to give him

196
all
the glory, or to ascribe to
him
all
PERIOD OF INDIVIDUAL CREATION

the niceties which were brought out as a result of his conception, is to overrate what he did and to underrate the influence
and work
of this
of other
men
is
as
worthy
of consideration as he.
known. In 1754 he brought out a book called "The Gentleman's and Cabinet Maker's Director." This book has been considered a well-spring for all Georgian styles, but its value lies in the clear way in which it shows the right
Of the early
life
man
little
of the individual to dictate his
own
style.
Chippendale studied and observed the French styles. So taken was he with certain phases of these styles
that one part of his work may be said to be an adaptaAn interesttion of the French to individual needs.
ing story is told of what he did. Conceiving the idea that in place of the French salon an English tea shop and furniture shop could be combined, he established
such an institution under his own roof. To this shop he invited not only his friends, but the wealthy people of London, as his guests for tea. While drinking tea, a model and viewing other sitting upon Chippendale examples of his work in the room, his guests proved an easy prey to his commercial scheme for showing furniture as it relates to the home. His success was pronounced and people flocked to the Chippendale shop
to view, to purchase regardless of cost, and to order new articles of furniture which should be individual
and made to express the personality of the owner. This indeed was a strange departure in cabinet making. These French Chippendale pieces will not
be described here, but they are the forerunners of the individual styles in England and in the United States.
197
INTERIOR DECORATION
Sometimes Chippendale fell under other influences than those of France. He borrowed from the Gothic and attempted to create dining-room and drawing-room chairs with Gothic motifs, but these were in commercial early Georgian style. The result was inartistic and a
failure.
William Chambers had opened up the wealth of artistic material in China, and had brought back many examples of textiles, pottery, carved wood, etc., from the limitless supply of the Chinese Empire. Chippendale, shrewd as usual, fastened upon the Chinese lattice and other Chinese motifs, and used them with considerable facility in the expression of a new ChineseChippendale style. These are interesting, sometimes
Sir
picturesque, frequently grotesque, while they present no end of chance for criticism as to their proportion and
practicability.
true especially of the chairs which he made. Mahogany was the wood of woods for Chippendale.
This
is
His
style,
marking as
it
does the
first of
the individual
styles, developed certain ideas which were originated during the Queen Anne period. He widened the seats
accommodated the back more perfectly to the human figure and standardized the height of the seat from the floor. He also worked out more carefully the function of a sideboard, a bookcase, a secretary and a writing table. He sought by every known means to impress the idea of individualism upon his clients, and to furnish as many kinds and types of useful things as human ingenuity could devise. In all this he was emiof the chairs,
nently successful. The other element which
all
good furniture must

have was frequently either missing or so
ent that
its
detection
is
impossible.
slightly presI refer to the
quality of subtle refinement and sesthetically significant form. While some Chippendale pieces present a fine
sense of proportion and a marvellous skill in technique, the general effect of the Chippendale furniture, with
some exceptions, is heavy, frequently clumsy, lacking in grace, mixed in motif and altogether devoid of the charm of the later individual styles.
To Chippendale, then, we accord the glory of being a pioneer in establishing individual style in furniture and furnishing. To him also may be given the praise
that rightfully belongs to him who is not afraid to take an idea from any place or any time and attempt
to carry
all
it
out under modern conditions.

full credit for all
To
give
him, however,
things Colonial, or to dub man, is allowing him the qualities which properly belong to the two men who were associated with him in his
later years.
things Georgian and him a great artist crafts-
Chippendale to that of the style known W^ppfcwhite, or to give the full title, of Messrs. A. Hepplewhite & Company, presents one of the most difficult problems in the Georgian styles. Perhaps nowhere in the development of English furniture was there a more marked change than in that made by these two men, who were practically
style called
.
The
transition
from the
contemporaneous. Notwithstanding the fact that furniture was lighter and more graceful, Chippendale's of a wider range and more usable than the earlier styles, he was unable to free himself from the weight of sturdy heaviness and formal arrangement which
199
INTERIOR DECORATION
seems typical of the national temperament up to this
time.
Wealth, dignity and usefulness had been the vogue

in the days of Queen Anne. heavy ornamental display of some graceful objects was the result of this Till the last days of Queen Anne everything period.
light, flippant, or
buoyant was rigidly excluded, and these qualities appeared only rarely in the work of
Chippendale.
exponent of delicacy in English styles, of a subtle refinement in proportion and arrangement, was Hepplewhite, and to him this should be accredited. The home up to this time had a certain severity and
first real
The
heaviness in
its
treatment.
only of what was necessary
The furniture consisted to modern usage, but Hep-
plewhite early in his career introduced a different idea
and brought into English furniture and English furnishing an entirely new and very important element. Hepplewhite 's favourite maxim was "unite elegance with utility and blend the useful with the agreeable."
the key to all that Hepplewhite did. have seen that Chippendale perpetrated fearful atrocities and caricatures on the styles of Louis XIV and XV and of the Chinese and Gothic periods. These in no way expressed the idea for which they origWith Hepplewhite an entirely different inally stood. view obtained. His wife published his book entitled "The Cabinet Maker's and Upholsterer's Guide, or Repository of Designs for Every Article of Household Furniture in the Newest and Most Approved Taste." From the title of this book may be gleaned something of what was the ideal of A. Hepplewhite & Company.
is
This
We
200

With Chippendale it was utility and commercial ad-' vantage. With Hepplewhite it was the use to which an article must be put, united with the aesthetic quality
which
beauty, each equally important, you have the key to the great change which Hepplewhite wrought in the idea of individualizing the house. His was the artistic and refining influence which is the fruitful result of the union of the two
the expression of perfect taste. Granting these premises, use and

is
necessary elements which make a useful object of any considerable art value, namely, the union of utility and
elegance, or the fusion of function
and beauty into one
naturally expressive whole.
To be sure, it is quite impossible for a man with such aims to realize in the fullest sense his ideal. Hampered by the work of inferiors, followers of Chippendale, limited by a smaller clientele at first among a people quite blinded by the new idea of individual styles, it took time and patience to work out in a positive way his own theories. The fruits of his work are seen in the reduced scale of all articles which he designed. greatly Perhaps some one will say these are too small, they look insecure, are not heavy enough for practical purThis may be true. In many instances it is poses. but true, they are practical in expressing what they intended to express and are successful in uniting utility and beauty in the field in which they are usable at all. Not all Hepplewhite furniture is good in all places, but
Hepplewhite furniture expresses the two elements which all furniture should express. As has been said, it is not the aim of this discussion
nearly
all
to illustrate the distinguishing characteristics of every

201
INTERIOR DECORATION
and period, but to awaken the reader to a sense of quality in things, and then to lead him to investigate the things or to read books in which these
style
things are explained, and to find for himself the qualiThat is the way to grow ties for which they stand.
in
in
knowledge of what is good and furniture, but in any art object.
right,
not only
period of Hepplewhite, or the work of Hepplewhite as I shall call it, while contemporary with the
last
The
be called a second step in the evolution of the individual style. Since he ^ was the in refinement and pioneer standardizing beauty, charm, it marks quite as important an epoch as that in which Chippendale departed from the monarchic
days of Chippendale,
may
idea.
The
furniture, the textiles,

in scale.
and other
art objects
were delicate and refined
Side pieces were done
in plain wood not much ornamented, chairs were delicate in line not greatly ornamented excepting in the backs,
where Hepplewhite seems to have play of line run an absolute riot.
let his desire for free
The
is
third very pronounced influence on this period shown in the work of .^Sheraton^. who was born in
1751, about the time that Chippendale published his
famous book.
gentle, direct contrast to the commercially social
Born of obscure parents, in dire poverty, retiring and contemplative, Sheraton was in
Chippendale
and the polished gentleman Hepplewhite. Very early he showed an intense admiration for the most refined
Louis XVI. Chippendale, as has been said, took naturally to the period of Louis XIV and the heavier, more picturesque style of Louis
classic things in the period of
202
XV.
Hepplewhite saw, appreciated and developed the delicacies, subtleties and refinements of Louis XV.
Temperance, restraint, simplicity and consistency these were the things Sheraton saw in the foreign styles and these were the things he desired to express in his own work. Somewhat influenced, no doubt, by Hepplewhite and his work, Sheraton set about to eliminate something of the overworked detail of the Hepplewhite idea, and to express in their simplest terms the same qualities and refinement with a more classic feeling
as the dominating idea.
Particularly in pieces such as cabinets, sideboards, Delidressers, tables, etc., Sheraton was supreme.
cate, refilled __and splendidly constructed, decorated in perfect structural harmony
they were by a fine
and_beautiful inlay of lighter wj>od. These pieces expressed in English terms the quiet, refined dignity that is found so characteristic of the plainest and most classic of the same objects in the period of Louis XVI. When these pieces or the counterparts of them found their way to the United States they did much to modify the belief already strongly entrenched here, that the
heavier Queen Anne or the more elaborate Chippendale were the climaxes of beauty in furniture forms.
in
The chairs of Sheraton appear to have been less harmony with his idea than his other articles of
Perhaps
this
is
furniture.
because chair backs seem
to have been the playground for both Sheraton and Hepplewhite. Consistent to a degree in some things,
they apparently considered the backs of chairs safe places in which to experiment with apparently impossible motifs worked out in incongruous ways. There
203
INTERIOR DECORATION
however, some rectangular backs with simple feeling, beautiful in proportion and charming in spirit, as are also the side pieces to which they naturally
are,
belong.
The most
little
in all Sheraton did there
casual study of these things will show that was everything to praise and
Toward the end of his worn out in mind and body, he published some designs which show that his original idea had become well-nigh lost in the trend of
to criticise unfavourably. career, when a broken old man,
the times.
France.
They were caricatures of the Empire in Though very little made up as designs, they
have misled many into believing Sheraton stood for ideas which really were strictly opposed to all that the man worked for during the best part of his life. Sheraton believed and proved that designing household furnishing was an art, one which every one could
not with success take up as a means of livelihood. He understood that a gift for proportion as well as special training was essential, and he stood firmly for good But even these did not taste and sound workmanship. him. He determined to master the art of satisfy drawing and the principles of design and colour; in short, to become acquainted with the laws which governed the expression of his ideas, in material form. This he held to be essential. In this^, then, Sheraton added some new things to the already clearly defined tend-
may not be closed without a word in regard to the Adam brothers. The older of the two, Robert Adam, was born in 1^28, and in 1768 he was appointed architect to the king. He
204
encies of the Georgian times. The discussion of individual styles

died in 1792.
These dates are given that one
may
clearly associate the
Adam
brothers with the period
when Chippendale, Hepplewhite and Sheraton were all at work in the cabinetmakers' field.
In truth the Adam brothers were not cabinetmakers, but ajTJhitents, eyterior^Tulinterior. To us their
what they did for inJerim^wjilLs, ceilings, floors and chimney pieces, which brought back the interior of the room to the background idea. In
chief value lies in
this the
Adam
brothers performed a lasting service in
the development of the modern house. Influenced greatly by the classic forms, particularly by the GreecoRoman at Pompeii, they evolved a light and dainty classic style, a delicate rendition sometimes verging
sometimes even on the pretty, and withal, a new note in a development of the Georgian interior. As far as their influence was felt on furniture and decorative objects it was not for improvement. One can dismiss for the present this phase from the category of Georgian furniture styles. Let us not fail, however,
on the
cold,
to appreciate the advantage of the softer and less ornamented wall surface, the simpler and more structurally
panelled arrangement, the delicate and refined treat-
ment of doorways, windows and chimney pieces, lest we overlook one of the very potent factors in the movement which has such a radical bearing upon our modern
problem.
PART
II
CHAPTER XIV
THE COLONIAL STYLE

THIS
style takes its as settled in North
name from
the original Colonies
America during the seventeenth
century and is the natural offspring of the parent stems the European countries of Britain, the Netherlands and France. In the early sixteen hundreds, about the time of the death of Elizabeth, religious, political and social conditions in England had reached the state of fomentation which resulted in the exodus of large numbers of Separatists to the Netherlands, where a larger freedom
and a more democratic tendency was the accepted

order of the time.
These Separatists, colonizing the western cities of the Netherland country, became somewhat mixed with the Dutch, at least they accepted Dutch forms as
life while in their adopted This was particularly true in the domestic field. Most of the Separatists were among the middle and upper classes, and they found economic necessity and religious teaching both naturally trending toward a simple, conservative and rather barren expression of the home ideal. By 1625, when the Jacobean period in England was well under way, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode
a partial expression of their

land.
206
THE COLONIAL STYLE

by Puritans who had Virleft Holland and found a home in the new land. the were and Carolinas colonized mainly ginia, Georgia
Island were colonized mostly
directly from Great Britain without the New York, influence of the adopted Dutch traditions. or New Amsterdam, received its settlers from Holland
by people
Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware were somewhat mixed with certain settlenlents of English, while others were of the Dutch middle classes. These
direct.
of
settlements were, some of them, a New England and the South.
little later
than those
These three rather distinct types of colonization and on, considerable modifications from French influence. It is well to consider each of these as quite distinct from the others to appreciate the meaning of the term "Colonial."
received, off
The people
of
New England
as
we know them
Puritan in origin, conscientious, financially poor, sturdy,

determined, conservative and hardy developed a Colonial type quite in keeping with their general characteristics.
These characteristics were crystallized and
modified by the climatic conditions, while their art expressions were modified to suit the materials which
were natural to the locality and by the ideals which had brought them to the new land. Their product was a house not too pretentious in size, severely plain, generally all brick or wood, with the architectural and decorative modifications which
means and the rigour of the climate natdictated. The Anglo-classic mania of England urally was in their blood, though they could hardly expect to
their limited
build their modest houses with solid marble columns,

207
INTERIOR DECORATION
pilasters and cornices, or to erect their classic ideals in scale to correspond with the Jones and Wren ideas of Great Britain.
admire the forms and seemed naturally to evolve sometimes a stone, more often a wooden pillar and capital, which, when combined with the brick or the wooden house, gave an altogether charming, though restrained, effect, known as the Northern
They
did, however,
Colonial type.
peculiar charm
To
those interested in studying the

Deerfield,
of this type of classic manifestation the
towns
setts,
of Salem,
Plymouth and
and those
of Litchfield, Gilford
Connecticut, present still some of examples of the best development of the Colonial type. Not alone in the domestic field was this Colonial
style
Massachuand Hartford, the most delightful
There was crystallized a religious manifestation known as the "New England meeting house," which by its nature expressed the whole story of the Separatists' idea. Gothic expression was an
manifest.
undisputed expression of the mediseval Roman church. The Anglican church modified it to express as nearly as possible the Anglican idea, but the Separatist could not see his new religious ideal manifest in terms of either the Roman or Anglican architecture; nor could he
think of representing this new faith, particularly in the interior, in any forms or combinations which tend to create a sensuous delight through the aesthetic
combination of its significant forms and colours. To those who have seen the New England meeting house this suggestion will create a sufficient mental picture to give the desired criteria for judging the Northern
Colonial
208
its religious
aspect.
THE COLONIAL STYLE

expressed architecturally the influence of Wren, the Adam brothers and their followers, in a restrained and sometimes primitive
first
The
interior of the
house at
way with flat, bare walls, white ceilings and wooden floors
in strips. Among the more affluent, classic motifs are in found the cornices, and the wood trim betrays a decided
Some of these doors, windows Anglo-classic influence. and chimney pieces are beautiful in proportion, chaste
and simple in effect, and altogether charming. Among the poorer people the classic elements were almost unknown. Walls were, like the ceilings, bare and white
or sometimes coloured with a tinted whitewash.
little
they were covered with wall papers as in England and, gradually, the floors received the traditional rag carpet, either braided or woven, as the fashion of the day diclater
these
became the vogue
tated.
The
first
furniture was, of course, a direct importa-
England and it was of the Jacobean type mainly Queen Anne and Chippendale, with Queen Anne
in the ascendancy.
tion from
By
1700 the Colonies were
suffi-
ciently developed to receive a good deal of furniture, and newcomers brought with them the Queen Anne
the early seventeen hundreds these pieces of furniture were copied in Hartford, Connecticut,
idea.
By
Boston and Massachusetts, an American made Queen
Anne style resulting. As soon as the Chippendale
was produced in England, importations to the Colonies began, and very soon the cabinetmakers of the New England States reproduced Chippendale models. Gradually from this reproduction was evolved throughout the North a simpler
furniture
209
INTERIOR DECORATION
and
less
ornate style in chairs, tables, beds and side
pieces.
These were known as
New England
Colonial.
chairs are particularly interesting since they represent so many types of the late modified Georgian
The
England. These had seats made of rush, braided husks and sometimes cane, while they were not infrequently upholstered in some foreign material. These straight-backed Puritanic forms made in birch, beech,
in
maple and other Colonial woods, small in scale, restrained in style and without ornament, constituted what is known as the New England style. Mahogany, of course, played a large part in this development and found its way into the structure of the interior in the form of solid doors, wainscoting and balustrades as
well as furniture.
Colonial furniture having become the vogue, it was found essential to repeat its motif in doors, balustrades
of
and the like, in order to tie it successfully to the room which it was a part. This particular point should
is
be of interest to every person who

idea or
using the Colonial
who
is
enamoured
of the
mahogany medium.
consistent repetition of the idea is essential to produce the desired design effect and also to give it,
in the least, the classic quality of consistency in its distribution.
Some
We have dwelt at length upon the Northern Colonial because in the largest sense this expression of Colonial has influenced the others, and in later times is the
phase most generally admired, copied and adapted. In considering this let us remember that the Colonial is but the child of a European mother, that it is by no means a new idea, but is the younger generation's
210
THE COLONIAL STYLE

version of the older generation's expression of their
religious, political
fers
its
from the
and social life. Naturally, it diforiginal, but in essentials it is the same,
differences being just those that any adaptation to other circumstances than its own should show. A
copy cannot express anything except those ideas for which the original stands. New modes of living and new ways of doing things must result in new forms of
production in the materials used. The Southern Colonial is perhaps the next in importance considered with reference to our modern As has been stated, the Southern colonies times. were settled by the English. In most cases they were
people of some financial standing and were many of them communicants of the established Anglican church.
Maryland was an exception, inasmuch as it was founded by people representing the Roman faith, who were also drawn from the better English classes. Larger
financial resources, a less Puritanic religious viewpoint, a broader social horizon and a warmer climate, each in
influence distinctly felt in the evolution of the Southern house. The Southern gentleman's property was in a large estate. This necessiits
way produced an
less
tated a larger, a somewhat more pretentious and a conservative house.
The
its
Colonial mansion, with

cornices
its
roomy
proportions,
its finely
splendid verandas with classic columns,
wrought most impressive example of the different ideals held by the two sections of the same country. The furnishings did not differ radically from those of the North. The mahogany type of Queen Anne and Chippendale
211
and other
classic details, gives the
INTERIOR DECORATION
became the standard furniture
of the South, with
an
occasional introduction of Hepple white and Sheraton, original pieces from England or the very best copies
procurable in the united colonies. Larger resources made it possible to import these things from the mother
country.
Occasionally in the North the

felt.
Dutch
influence
was
This was almost entirely lacking in the South, and the Anglo-classic architecture with the Queen
early Chippendale became its paramount New York, or New Amsterdam, was the expression.
Anne and
natural expression of the Dutch-Netherland idea. This decided Dutch feeling, the same that William and
to England in 1688, is the foundation fact the so-called Middle Colonial type. The architecture of this section was strictly Dutch, the
Mary brought
hi
classic idea
having scarcely modified

the
it
at
all.
The
gable, the Dutch proportion dominate not and detail only the exterior, but the interior
Flemish
scroll,
Dutch
architecture.
These three expressions
Furniture, too, was structurally Dutch. of the Colonial are sufficient
to give the feeling for the Colonial types. They should enable one to perceive clearly two quite individual phases of the classic idea and to contrast these
two with a somewhat non-classic evolution which characterized the Dutch constructive manner. Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware represent the mixed Dutch and English influences in a remarkably
way. Philadelphia alone presents sufficient examples of both types for the intensive study of what the combination effected in combining two
interesting
original ideas. 312
THE COLONIAL STYLE

These manifestations, gradually evolving, received a remarkable jolt in the later days of Louis XVI. After
the recognition of the independence of the Colonies, there arose diplomatic situations between them and
France which caused the exchange of ambassadors.

Lafayette came to the States, and Benjamin Franklin was sent to the French court. Picture, if you can, Benjamin Franklin in his New England clothes and
top boots at the court of Marie Antoinette. On the other hand, it is quite as impossible to imagine the refined and gallant Lafayette as entirely at home in the united colonies, although undoubtedly Washington and the diplomatic set around him were more nearly congruous than was Franklin at the French court. The ladies of the American capital took most graThe Louis ciously to Lafayette and his manners.
through his influence was espoused and became the fad of the tune. Washington's house at Mount Vernon, Virginia, in its interior finish and its furnishings, is so strongly affected by the Louis XVI style that people frequently call it a Louis XVI inThis vogue spread throughout the South and terior. the interior decoration of the next influenced greatly
style
XVI
At the accession of Victoria, however, half century. this impetus was exhausted and a new idea prevailed.
more marked
While the expression of the Louis XVI style was in the South, it was also noticeable in
England, particularly in the northeastern part. few years before the fall of the French kingdom
New
Marie Antoinette planned to flee and make her home United States. A shipload of house furnishings was sent to Maine, and this, which was never used by
in the
213
INTERIOR DECORATION
her but which was distributed later, was the leaven which leavened the whole eastern Colonial to a less severe and more graceful expression of the later Colonial
type.
heard-of luxury.
The drawing-room in New England was an unThe parlour, with its closed blinds
curtains, for use
on holidays only, had taken XVI idea brought with it the conception of the use of this luxurious room, and the Louis XVI expression seemed fitting for the most treasured of all the rooms in the house. A little later Hepplewhite, Sheraton and Louis XVI
and drawn
its place.
The advent
of the Louis
controlled the parlours of the upper-class house.

It
New England
be well, before leaving the strictly Colonial mention the clocks, pictures, woodwork, type, china, etc., which were accessory to this style. The grandfather's clock, for example, beloved for its
may
to
is a product of Chippendale's fertile invenThis immediately found place in the Colonial. Under some conditions it certainly has a charm and
sentiment,
tion.
On the other expresses the spirit of the Colonial time. hand, in modern times, it is often used in such a way
that
it
scale,
becomes the most important thing in a room in in colour value and in material, thus giving to
an unimportant thing the room emphasis.
The Colonial glass, the more ornate of the mirrors, and the other Queen Anne and Chippendale ornamental
pieces, should
be considered with great care in the
modern house. Clocks were practically a new idea in England at this time, and since they were new, the cabinetmaker did not hesitate to give them an unMirrors in the days of Queen seemly prominence.
14
THE COLONIAL STYLE

Anne were a new luxury
to possess
to middle-class people,
and
one was to have reached a degree of
human
affluence quite desirable in those days. Presumably nature was the same then as now. Having
arrived at the place where a clock and mirror or two were possible, why not have this clock and the mirrors as important as possible that all might realize the social prominence which the owner had just attained?
Without thinking how new pieces happened to appear, there is no possibility of understanding their
relative importance in the house.
To be
sure, there
is
the right of every man to choose a thing simply because he likes it, or because he regards it as beautiful, but if his aim is a room which shall be a perfect unit and
shall not only express good taste and what he personally likes, but also shall express completely the
which
unit idea, then he must take into consideration the relative value of each piece he places in the room.
an element which deserves some consideration. The Hepple white and Adam tendencies had been to colour and also to use the natural wood. Enamel was rampant in France in the days The Colonial ideas, excepting of Louis XV and XVI. the very earliest, were obtained from these sources. When the Colonial house was conceived, its exterior
Colonial
is
woodwork
architectural decorative features appeared in white. Consistency alone demanded the white woodwork in
the ulterior.
The
instinctive
feeling
for
chaste
cleanliness, which was next to godliness in New England, may have been another reason for the painted white woodwork. At any rate, the very term Colonial suggests painted
215
white woodwork with mahogany doors and balustrades. This strong contrast of mahogany and white woodwork would be quite impossible if it were not for the purpose
of tying the furniture to the wall or relating it to the background. The impossibility of this dark, heavy ma-
hogany furniture against a white or very light background must be apparent to any one. This was the Colonial way of harmonizing in some degree these two inconsistencies. A quite effective
This strong was, too, in many instances. value contrast is not of the most refined nature and, if interpreted in just that way, sometimes seems crude and somewhat harsh. When white woodwork is used This is suflet it be toned to very deep old ivory.
one
it
ficiently yellow
and
is
also sufficiently neutralized to
key be done
it
to other elements in the room.

in exactly the
light,
Let the
ceiling
same tone as the woodwork
never bright, but a deep, rich old ivory and the Colonial idea is not disturbed while the keying of the colour relates the woodwork to the wall and room This type of woodwork is not only good furnishings. in a Colonial room, but it is often the best way to treat any room where the woodwork by its colour, its texture, or its finish is garish, crude and unpleasant* Sometimes in modern houses soft grays for wall, wood-
not too
work and ceiling are most effective. Out of this Colonial period and out
which
of the Victorian,
may be roughly said to begin with 1827, grew what is known as our black walnut period. This and the period immediately following in the United States are analogous to those periods in one's life that he hesitates to discuss with anybody outside the immediate
THE COLONIAL STYLE

family. It selves that
is
perhaps only necessary to remind our-
we passed through such an experience which we now look back upon as excusable from only
one standpoint, our youth.
Colonial period, as we have seen, was the youth's expression of the way his father started him in life.
The
Some time
the youth must think for himself, he must do for himself, and the first results are not always all that one could desire. This is what the black walnut
period really was.
It
was the young
child's first ex-
pression of his own ideas in his own way. The Colonial force had spent itself. The awakening nation had other and new ideals. Its own resources,
dominated expression, and black walnut, resembling somewhat the Victorian medium, was seized upon as the first wood available for such use. The financial resources of the country were increasing, we must, therefore, have an appearance of wealth. Since marble is expensive why not top our tables, bureaus, dressers and the like with this beautiful native stone? Surely the ancient Romans made their columns of marble and granite combined; the Louis XV period has its consoles structurally in gilt and its tops in marble. What matters it if the value difference between black walnut and white marble is somewhat strong, or if the proportions of one material to the other, or to the parts of the object in question, are totally unrelated? Then,
its
own
activities,
too, there are the wonderful architectural effects of
Wren in England and in America. add not some of these structural features to the Why already too ponderous bed? And then, if classic and
Sir Christopher
non-classic mouldings will give
it
greater weight
and
217
INTERIOR DECORATION
a more decided appearance of luxury, why not put them on so long as they will stay on? Fatally the callow youth has expressed his first ideas of his new furniture in a most voluminous way. We need not go into detail as to how the Oriental rug was used in this period, and also the rag carpet and the ingrain when they made their appearance. The
Oriental was at least rare and expensive and the ingrain was quite new, while the rag carpets were but the left-
overs of a less completely evolved people. What is true of carpets and rugs is equally apparent in all other things found in the period which we call
black walnut.
Many
of us
can
recall the
crowded
sit-
ting-rooms, the newly done, over done parlours, and the ungainly and heavily furnished bedrooms, with a feeling
of despair
and
pity.
was at least original. Originality is one of the qualities which we must all recognize as commendable and in line with progress. At the same time, to make originality the only criterion, or the main criterion, is to focus our attention on too unimportant an idea. Original things which are bad may be steps toward better ones, but they are not ends; they are means to an end, which end is, of course, an expression of ideas fitting and beautiful in themTo unqualifiedly condemn the black walnut selves.
It
possible as it is, it of the modern idea.
Nevertheless, bad as it was, imwas a natural step in the evolution
movement
but to
fail
is
to see
to refuse to realize the law of progress, its inconsistencies and its place as
a means to an end, is to cloud the vision for all future creations which are original and better. Because of the insatiable desire for self-expression
18
THE COLONIAL STYLE

which is a psychological quality, the American people were not satisfied with the black walnut era. They soon outgrew it, and instinctively turned to Europe for ideas with which to modify it. They still had with them the Queen Anne mirrors with their erratic, Some of the furniture had equally curved-line edges. and The jig-saw, distracting curved lines. impossible too, had made its appearance, and the straight line as a beauty factor was lost to sight. Some one has said: "Anybody can appreciate a curved line, but it takes an artist to see beauty in a But if it does not straight one." This may be true. take an artist to see the difference between a beautiful curved line and one which is ugly, then there is no difference between curved lines and they are all beautiful. Puritan severity, classic simplicity and consistency, qualities having their origin in the Greek ideal, had dominated a great part of the Colonial, but were completely lost in the period which extended from about 1840 to 1890. From 1875 on there were two conflicting influences one the classic and the other the individualistic original, which we have just described. The atrocities committed in 1875 and 1890 were not in furniture alone, but were, perhaps, even more noticeable in veranda brackets, which, by the way, supported nothing; in grills over doors where plain wall space should have been; league upon league of curved applique woodwork around mantels, and brass, gilt and iron chandeliers, where the writhing motions of a den of snakes would suggest perfect repose by comparison, and many other manifestations of this same idea. This, by the way, is the most difficult error to
219
INTERIOR DECORATION
cope with in the
house.
field of art
expression in the
still
modern
Many American
to be good.
baits to
believed these things Landlords and builders used them as

designers
tempt their clients to a purchase. In fact, some remain who, either through force of habit or because they have not given the matter thought, fail to see the contortions, the unrelated motions and the ugly proportions created through the use of the meaningless curve.
From 1890 on there has been a strong reaction against

this ugliest of all original periods.
Contact with Euro-
pean countries through increased facilities for travel, the expenditure of vast sums of money by the wealthier
classes in the importation of
European
the clearly defined
and sane attitude
art objects, of the best
architects together with the increased desire and facility for education, wrought the great change. People
began to see that original things were not always good. They also found by travel that their money
could buy almost anything in any period. Those who could afford to do so first espoused the
few of the best and most expensive decorators in the country essayed to do a Louis XV, Louis XVI or Empire room, and assured the client that it was an exact reproduction as to walls and ceiling with original pieces for furnishing. In a few cases these rooms turned out to be good, and in not a few totally bad, because of a lack of harmony not only between the furniture and the walls but in the relations of the room with its furnishings and in its
interiors.
spirit to
French idea for
modern
times.
220
THE COLONIAL STYLE

It also
an
article
happened that an actual reproduction of of furniture or of a ceiling as it was in France
created a scale relation, colour combination or maze of motifs quite impossible under conditions here. For
ten or fifteen years, however, the French manner was ardently courted and by some charmingly used. Few
there were, however, who dared omit a single motif from the ceiling at Versailles for fear the client should
was not an exact reproduction. There were fewer still who would have modified a period room in the slightest particular even by changing an article of furniture. It was slavish copy. This domination of the French idea lasted for some
discover that
it
time, but during the following ten years gradually changed, and the English manner became the rage.
For ordinary purposes and general use no
styles are
so well fitted for general service as this. This is because the English periods are the expression of a do-
mestic idea, democratic in thought and meaning, and also because it is less expensive to reproduce the English
periods in general than those of the better French Still another reason, which is more important styles. than either, is the fact that the French styles cannot be
reproduced by any one save a craftsman with a perfect knowledge of the technique of his art. The French periods depend for their beauty upon their refined and exquisite charm. Unless these are elements in his consciousness, a craftsman cannot produce the
results.
The English
lectually conceived It takes as much intellect to reproduce the English periods with some degree of accuracy, but far less of the
221
periods are simpler, more inteland more practically evolved.
INTERIOR DECORATION
aesthetic sense is required than would be essential to the same degree of accuracy in the French styles. At present we are entering a new era in this country.
Neither the French styles nor the English express exactly what the most refined and educated person in
any walk of life desires to express bedroom, dining-room or library.

is
in his living-room,
strong tendency
apparent to return to the first principles of the Italian Renaissance. In them are found certain structural and
decorative facts which are fundamentals in
all
periods
which have followed.
The thoughtful student must analyze
this Italian
Renaissance, and he will find that the Classic, the Christian, and the Humanistic influences must be separately considered in order to
form any estimate of
its
meaning.
Having done
this, it is
not strange that our
best decorators
in the evolution of the
now are standing firmly on this first step New Renaissance. The coming
period in American art will be one in which the intellect and the feelings of a cultivated people with limitless
resources will both assert themselves in the expression of the modern house.
period will be copied in its entirety. No period be omitted because unfit for the expression of an idea. Every period will be studied and studied with one thing in view, and that is to know the ideas for which the period stands, to see the qualities in applied art which stand for those ideas, and to use those ideas and qualities to express the individual idea in the home. This will be the Second Renaissance, the era which is opening before us.
No
will
222
PART
III
PART
III
CHAPTER XV
THE MODERN HOUSE THE problem of the modern house

more than merely providing a
involves something
pretty, healthful, physi-
cally comfortable place to satisfy man's demand for It is the criterion of a man's taste, shelter and rest.
the visible response to his instinctive call for beauty. It furnishes the environment in which are born and
nurtured the early impressions of those who are to set the taste standards in the generations that follow. This consideration dignifies interior decoration by placing it among the serious professions. No longer a mere matter of collecting and housing like a department store or a museum, or of providing a place in
which to sleep and
eat, it is destined to
become, as
more fully the power of environment, one of the strongest and most scientific of the educational The time will come when factors in our generation. its power in the evolution of race consciousness will be
realizes
man
appreciated at
its
true worth.
Though
and the
it is is
difficulties arising
realizing fully the importance of sanitation from financial limitation,
not our purpose to deal with these questions. It rather our desire to emphasize here only the func-
and artistic phases of this great problem. More books have been written and more has been said on the
tional
225
INTERIOR DECORATION
and economics than any of us can but the apply, principles that govern the choice and arrangement of materials, colours, forms and lines as they relate to common usage or as they appeal to the artistic sense, have been practically overlooked.
subjects of hygiene
stimulate the reader to think before buying, to have a sensible reason for his purchase, to know the power of colour and form, and to see how men of other
To
nations in the past have expressed their personal and racial ideas, is our aim.
The
aesthetic sense is instinctive
and expresses
in
man
his desire or appetite for beauty. What a selects in response to this demand of his nature
man
and
how he
taste.
arranges what he has
selected, determines his
A man's taste improves as the aesthetic sense becomes refined or sensitized to the point of responding to the more subtle combinations of forms and colours. This matter of taste is not a fixed quality. One may have the gift or natural tendency to refined choice, but no man has by divine right a monopoly of good taste.
Our standards are constantly changing during life as affected by study and by environment. Every time a colour is seen, a sound heard, or an odour perceived, a new sensation is recorded in consciousness, or one previously recorded is made more
permanent by
This is true of all sensations repetition. the senses. These numberless sensareceived through
tion records accumulated since birth represent the part environment has played in the evolution of our
consciousness.
is,
In other words,
for out of consciousness
thoughts and acts affect his

226
it is what one really comes one's acts, and his personality and his use of
UITABLE BEDROOM FOR TWO BOYS, ADMITTING THE ADDITION OF UCH PERSONAL OBJECTS AS ARE ESSENTIAL TO THE COMFORT ND IMMEDIATE PLEASURE OF THE OCCUPANTS.
[OUSE. WELL ARRANGED, PROPERLY IOTIF ON A RESTFUL BACKGROUND. .ND SUITED TO CHANGE OF GUEST.
IMPLE BEDROOM SUITABLE FOR GUESTS CHAMBER IN COUNTRY DECORATED, WITH CHINTZ
THE ROOM
IS
IMPERSONAL
THE MODERN HOUSE

material objects. Seeing this psychological truth clearly is the foundation for recognizing the importance
all
of the interior of the house.
This, briefly, then, is the status of environment as a factor in character building
and as a power in the evolution of a national civilization. It is even more lasting in its results than hygiene
for the
for selfish purposes. It is this that determines the standpoint of taste and may be-
body or money
come the stepping-stone to a higher plane of living both for the individual and the nation. What, then, can be more important than the house,
especially its interior?
first sees colours,
Is
it
not here that the child
hears sounds, touches textures? Is this not the place where first impressions are received? These impressions should be of the quality one would
have the young mind make permanent as standards

for future judgment. They will represent what the owner of the house regards as good taste in the grati-
As the aesthetic sense quickens, the taste for greater subtlety grows, and a changed environment is the result.
fication of his desires.
as a luxury. Its possession should be regarded as a duty to the cause of civilization as well as a response to the normal
desires inspired by the aesthetic sense. It to the general taste standard of the future
full
is
The artistic home should not be regarded
essential
and to the
The
so so
appreciation and enjoyment of beauty. obstacles that stand in the way of a realization
of this ideal
many many
environment are numerous. There are questions arising in each individual problem, apparently insurmountable difficulties, and,
there are so
worst of
all,
many
people
who
are willing 227
INTERIOR DECORATION
i
to give
ease.
It
up anything that does not come with perfect may be well to look into some of these com-
plications.
In any discussion of a personal problem, outside of a limited number of wealthy people, the first difficulty
raised
"I cannot afford to buy good things. If I had the money I should certainly do so." Then: "I
is:
have bad things and why should I be so particular when I must put the new with the acknowledged bad which I already have?'' To the first of these objections it may be answered
expensive things are not good nor are all cheap ones bad. Of course we must allow that there is a greater field for beautiful things where unlimited means are at the command of the designer, but we must also remember that unless the designer thoroughly underthat
all
;
stands what
is good and what is not, the field for his and ignorance is increased in proportion to the caprice
amount
limit
is
of money he has to spend. Often the money the saving thing in the selection of articles as to The question of selection their kind or their number. is one of colour, form, line and texture and of the prinIt is not a question of ciples that produce harmony.
the kind of wood, how much it cost, and how much it is carved, nor is it a question of how brilliant the bronze
nor how gorgeous the velvet. When one looks at any object from the standpoint of the principles of harmony, which should control its structure and its decoration, he has the answer to the objection "I have no money," for money is not the standard of judgment. As to the second objection given, it may be said that it is never too late to begin to do right. The first ray
is,
228
2 w H
THE MODERN HOUSE

of light as to
what
is
good in furniture or
fittings
should
be followed.
of the
Have definitely in mind what your ideal room would be if you could have everything
it
new and have

is essential
at once.
A mental
picture of a result
before the
interior
first
step in the solution of a
decoration can be successfully with the finished whole in article each Buy mind, and as fast as a bad thing can be eliminated procure another in its place that harmonizes with this mental picture. The house will turn out better than
problem in
taken.
one expects, and the best of grows with it.

If the available
it all is
that the individual
money
is
limited start with the back-
$100 be used, let ground of the room. that be expended to make the woodwork, the walls, The the ceiling and the floor a suitable background. of will into rest find its the room and quality way right relationships of colour be easy to establish the moment
If $25, $50, or
the backgrounds are satisfactory.
more changes can be made let them be in the hangings and rugs for, next to the background, these are the most important things in any room. Having disposed of background, rugs and hangings, furniture and decorative material can be dealt with very easily, very simply and quite gradually with a continued feeling of satisfaction that the room is growing better every day. The mistake made by most people, inIf
cluding
many
decorators,
is
in trying to
make
things
appear moderately satisfactory against impossible backgrounds. Do not buy sideboards until the wall paper and
floor are suitable.
Never mind what your furniture
is
229
INTERIOR DECORATION
until you have something to put it against. Do not be distressed about vases, fancy clocks and other unnecessary and distracting objects until your furniture is right and the more important decorative ideas are well looked after. In other words, build from the bottom up. The background is the foundation upon which
all
things
must
rest.
Another objection has been made, something like this: "There are the old inherited pieces of furniture" (usually mahogany) "which have belonged to the family for generations. These, of course, are not good, but how can I part with them since they are family heirlooms?" If one is not handicapped by these things he
usually
less
is
by wedding
purchases
made
gifts
presents, holiday gifts or sensewithout thought or because they

foolish purchases are either a
were believed at the time to be bargains.

Heirlooms,
and
matter of sentimentality or of supposed economy. Aunt Jane may have been a good woman. She may, however, have had some misconceptions as what constitutes the most artistic combination of colour, line and form in a chair or table. In this state of Aunt
Jane's consciousness she probably bought the table which you now have. Now that she is probably in a
which she realizes how bad the table is, neither you nor I can be expected to accept this table as our idea of what a table should be. The fact that one disposes of Aunt Jane's table in the wood pile or the attic in no way interferes with one's respect and love for Aunt Jane. Until it is possible to disassociate tables, chairs and other objects from human beings, and particularly
state of consciousness in
230
THE MODERN HOUSE

from human beings
in other states of existence,
it
will
not be possible to deal successfully with family heirlooms in modern houses. Let us judge the table, the
chair, the chest or the bed,
idea, disassociated from
on its merits as an abstract whoever had it, and be big
enough and broad enough to take a stand against anything that is not good and right, be its associations
closely connected with family or friends. the only possible way in which one can be in a frame of mind to consider the disposition of such It articles as he knows to be unfit for further use.
ever so
This
is
be well to remember that there is a difference between that noble and highly spiritual quality called sentiment and the weak, sickly counterfeit of it which
may
we call sentimentality.
to do with these things, provided one is willing to part with them, is willing to risk family criticism, the friendly questions that arise when the occasional
What
from the top of the piano, a serious question. The habit of giving furniture that is unfit for use to the poor is deadly, if one considers at all the establishment of a taste standard. Why should the poor have things in worse taste than anybody who is not poor? A man has a right to good
visitor finds his gift missing
is
things, and the practice of giving half -worn bad things in clothing and in furnishings to somebody who is
supposed to be grateful for anything on earth is perhaps responsible more than any other one thing for the
present way of regarding the interior of the house. Better for a man to have a pine table, chair, bench and bed, decently stained, with respectable lines and well placed in his room, than a Queen Anne table, a
281
INTERIOR DECORATION
marble-top black walnut dresser, a Morris chair and a Mission bed, any one of which may or may not be an There is always the wood atrocity beyond words. the pile, unspeakable attic, and as a last resort, if the house is large enough, a special room set apart for idols.
Again we constantly meet the objection, particularly in rented houses, that the landlords refuse to do anyIf there is no landlord to refuse and the man thing. owns his house, then it is, that he cannot afford it or does not like to destroy or mar anything that has been
so for a length of time. Let us first deal with the landlord.
In
many
houses
or apartments built twenty-five years or even fifty years ago are found grills over doors, plate rails
anywhere, abnormal growths on and around the chimney piece and set mirrors. There are also atrocious stair balustrades, garish tiles around the chimney piece, wedding-cake decorations about the ceiling and impossible varnished or grained
wood
surfaces in the trim.
These things have made such places not only uninhabitable but dungeons of misery to all persons of
feeling or intelligence. It is sometimes hard to get the landlord to tear these things out. There can be no background until every
one of these things has been changed. The grills, the abnormal growths, the wedding-cake decorations and the balustrades must come out, while the trim must be redone. Almost always this can be, at least, painted old ivory or gray, which, though a last resort, is under most circumstances the thing to do. The tiles can also be painted and should be the colour of the trim, for they, too, are an essential element of the background idea
232
THE MODERN HOUSE

which
The
is the fundamental one in the whole conception. elimination of these stumbling-blocks is quite as necessary to carrying out any scheme of furnishing as the purchase of any number of new things or the
arrangement of these things after one has acquired them.
The
find
assertion
is
often
made
that
no wall papers except flowered ones to be bought in our town." "There are no one or two tone rugs nor other types whose ornament
do not stand out and offend the sensitive eye." Cretonnes, printed linens and other textiles are much too bright and too floral in their pattern and good, dignified, unobtrusive patterns cannot be bought." Furniture, too, comes in for its share of criticism along exactly the same line. In answer to this let me say that demand always has and always will govern the supply; that the supply will be furnished when there is a demand, and that the
figures
good things in the trade. remark such as: "There are
impossible to Frequently one hears a

it is
"
trade has in stock exactly what people want. When people demand better things, manufacturers will make
them and tradesmen will sell them. It taste that is at fault and not the trade.
is
the public
After twelve years of intimate acquaintance with every branch of allied interior decorating trades in the
largest city in America, I am convinced that one thing is true: that there is no one class of persons in this
country more anxious to learn, more ready to respond or more loyal in their efforts for better things than the trade. This statement applies to wholesale and retail men, to those managing the textile shops, wall-paper
233
INTERIOR DECORATION
shops and furniture shops.
It
is
a very general and
When the consumer raises his clearly defined feeling. standard of what is good the producer will raise his,
will respond naturally and quickly. hindrance to our realization of what is greatest best in house planning is found within ourselves. Do you not frequently hear people say: "I like it. I do
and the middleman
The
not care whether it is right or not; it pleases me, so what It was good enough for my difference does it make? day and I guess it is good enough for yours." Or, "I love nature and therefore want it as much as possible about me in the house." These personal whims are Is it responsible for more than is at first apparent. well ask I like or not to ourselves why do it, why am I Is it conforms to the laws of it because pleased? is it because I do not know beauty and arrangement, or whether it is good or not? Does it please me because it does not please somebody else, or because I have a reason
:
Some who in their day made long on horseback instead of a steam train, or journeys went to bed with a candle instead of an electric light, may have changed their attitude of mind in respect to these conditions while they have not changed them
for being pleased?
quite so radically in other matters equally important. To deal with nature as nature and to deal with a def-
amation
of nature as interior decoration are
two
radi-
cally different matters.
Let not the nature lover believe that anybody
is
likely to translate nature into carpets, wall papers, brass ornaments and plaster of paris, and do so successfully.
It
234
is
Let him go on loving nature in nature's place. meet and right so to do. At the same time let
THE MODERN HOUSE

him wake up, and wake up now, to the fact that whatever of nature is translated into material must be conventionalized so as to be consistent in that material, or
and becomes a cheap attempt to imitate something which it is impossible to imitate. There is a difficulty, too, with persons who are entirely wedded to some one historic period and believe that no other is worthy of expression, or that no other
it
loses all its art value
national one
expression.
is
fit
to use for
any kind
of individual
Some people
are essentially French in their
manner and form of expressing themselves. Others Some are so individual as to be Louis are English. XV or Jacobean, and a few, I regret to say, are still Queen Anne. But people are indeed rare that are adequately expressed by any one period idea, and the
growing tendency
to ignore the exactly reproduced period and to accept, adapt and use objects from related periods to express a mixed national life.
is
chapters on historic periods have been given principally to show the qualities for which they stand and our need to assimilate these qualities, whatever
is. This does not mean that a in his colour choice, not be individual person should
The
their period
name
and personal
in his likes
and
dislikes, as well as quite
forms and decorative effects. It means that the more he knows what others have done, the more he will know what not to do, as well as what to do, and it also means that the less he limits himself to one colour scheme, one furniture style, one decorative idea, the broader becomes his concept, the wider his experience and the more versatile and refined
natural in his selection of
his expression.
235
INTERIOR DECORATION
It
is
true,
we have emerged from
the Victorian Era
black walnut, marble-top offspring. But many which we, as Americans, associate with the Victorian period are still with us, or cheaper repits
and
of the objects
even though we have said fond farewells to the marble-top chamber suit and the
resentations of
them
are,
plush parlour chairs. It is not an uncommon thing to see in rooms otherwise quite possible an accumulation of small articles supposed to be decorative or useful, ranging all the way from dried grass and cat-tails to knit tidies and piano
These aggregations include unnecessary and undecorative vases, statuettes, hand-painted objects and other sentimental belongings.
covers.
Since
is
this
field
of
unnecessary
is
personal
in
objects
unlimited, since the affection these objects are sometimes held
and regard
so sacred,
which and since
people positively intelligent in most things refuse to show a sign of common sense where these are concerned,
the only thing
we can do
is
to arouse those
who
are
responsible for such things to a thoughtful consideraNo two persons being alike, tion of their qualities.
apply to any one person. Each person must, however, look about and see what things he has that are useless, inexpressive of anything except himself, and capable only of collecting and harbouring When he has decided this let him eliminate dust. what he will and start anew. Thus a decorative scheme
no two methods
will
may have
its birth.
Out of repeated right experience comes knowledge. Knowledge is power, and power to use external material things to express ideas is the end and aim of material
236
ONE
OWN ROOM SHOULD EXPRESS THE
ESSENTIAL QUALITIES OF
HIS PERSONALITY.
ii
A.
B.
BEDROOM OF MARIE ANTOINETTE; LITTLE TRIANON. BEDROOM OF LOUIS XIV AT VERSAILLES. C. BED OF QUEEN ELIZABETH OF ENGLAND. COMPARE THE QUALITIES WHICH ARE FOUND TO BE PROMINENT IN THE CHARACTER OF EACH PERSON WITH THE QUALITIES EXPRESSED BY THE ROOMS AND THEIR FURNISHINGS.
THE MODERN HOUSE

choose an article without a knowledge and To choose feeling for its fitness and beauty is unwise. it in its relation to its backit without considering ground and to each of the other objects with which it
life.
To
will
be used
in a
room
is
worse.
The
failure to test
one's arrangement
has.
the cause of a failure to
by the principles of form is often make the most of whatever one Knowledge grows as one demonstrates what he
has already learned. Nothing is thoroughly understood until it can be consciously demonstrated. It has been the purpose of this chapter to call the reader's attention to the wonderful opportunity that the interior decorator and the house maker has to create an environment which will be the means of a higher state of aesthetic appreciation in the generation that is to follow. It has also been our ami to point out the stumbling-blocks to a full realization of an aesthetic ideal in furnishing and to incite a determination to make a beginning in the direction of overcoming these obstacles. It is further designed to arouse a desire to investigate the fundamental principles which govern
form and decoration, and to use these principles daily in our selections and in our arrangements until, unconsciously, what we touch shall express a new state of personal consciousness hi which good taste is not a thought-out act but an unconscious, irresistible impulse in
all
we
do.
PART
III
CHAPTER XVI
THE INDIVIDUAL HOUSE

IT
preposterous to think that there can be a class of set formulae given by which any and every room may be properly planned. One meets, however, those who
is
want such formulae and those who are quite
willing to
give them. This creates a situation quite like that in which a patent medicine is put on the market with the assurance that it will cure every human ill, when, as a matter of fact, it is probably inadequately adapted to even one badly disordered state. The house is an individual thing. Each room in it is
individual, for the varied functions of the rooms and the personal differences of those who may use them all
influence each particular element in the unit. To say that a dining-room should be in this or that
colour scheme, with this or that style of furniture, is not only absurd but entirely misleading as to what
interior furnishing
room
is
true of the diningno less true of the living-room, the sleepingis
means.
What
room, the library, or other rooms in which the personal element is concerned. What one can do, however, is to stick fast to the principles which govern all forms of expression, and then use his intelligence, and that of his advisory decorator, to make the elements that go to make up the room
238
SIMPLE DECORATIVE CHOICE AND ARRANGEMENT OF MATERIALS, EXPRESSING THE QUALITIES OF FEMININE REFINEMENT AND GOOD TASTE, IN A MODERN BEDROOM. VERY INDIVIDUAL.

an expression
of the personality of the
one for
whom the
room is planned. When principle takes the place of fad or formula and impersonal qualities are seen as a
media
of expression, personality will find
no
difficulty
in manifesting itself in
any room under any
conditions.
Each house is the natural expression of an individual's idea of functional fitness, beauty in environment and good taste. Function or fitness is the fundamental
a tendency frequently to let other elements creep in which in themselves are not bad, but which destroy the functional idea for which the object stands. For example, sentimental souvenirs, or decorative objects, are allowed to occupy space in the room that one can ill afford to give to such trash. These objects
is
idea of the room.
There
also are frequently placed upon tables, pianos, cabinets, dressers and the like in such a way that the real function
of the object on which they are placed is completely obscured. Mirrors cannot be used, drawers opened or shut, pianos closed or opened, tables used for any
practical
things.
purpose,
without
moving these
senseless
How
often lamps or other lighting features are so
placed that it is impossible to read or sew by them. In the same way hangings and curtains are so placed that windows no longer admit light or serve to protect from
outside observers; chairs bear no relation to tables so far as reading, writing or other work is concerned. In
short, the acquisition or the placing of objects functional or beautiful in such a way that they do not fully express
their use idea
is
in
bad taste.
feature of an object
To destroy the functional the addition of a less important by

239
INTERIOR DECORATION
one or by a bad placing of that one economical nor artistic.
is
neither sensible,
The first essential ment necessary to

is
so placed that
it
in the individual room is the judgascertain that every object in it does its own work in the most ef-
manner. Until each object is so placed the room is not right, however individual it may seem. It must be clear that no formula can be given for this. A writer or author requires a table, perhaps a desk, chairs and other material in quite different relations to each other and to lighting than the person who uses the
ficient
same type of room for room or library.
visiting purposes or as a reading-
The dining-room
in the
used for other purposes. quite a different arrangement of the table, chairs, light, sideboard and other articles. It is well to raise the question as to whether every article in the individual room you have in mind meets
as nearly as possible the criterion
fitness.
moderate house is sometimes In this case function demands
you have
of functional
matters not whether you are a an artist, author, a seamstress, a lawyer or a doctor the room is in harmony with your life work, which is yourself, and will become personal when
If it does, it
musician, an
you know how to express form, line and texture.

Beauty
of
is
yourself in terms of colour,
the quality of harmonious relationships.
A formula to produce it does not exist.
But
principles
harmony in colour, line, form, texture and arrangement do exist and no two people can interpret them Nor will they do so if these principles become alike.
unconscious working elements of the mind.
240
Accept,

then, the fact that beauty is harmony. Learn next what things are harmonious. Use, in the third place,
such elements as express your idea, personal and individual, of the function included in your room idea. As far as you can, demonstrate these principles; beauty
will result.
what field one works, conscious, constant right choice and right usage is good taste. Just as one improves in manners by habitual practice,
It matters not in
though a tendency to these may be inborn or not, just so one improves his taste in colour by habitual choice and use of the best within his knowledge. Let us not be satisfied, then, with any expression that happens to come along which rests the body, gratifies sentimentality or seems cheap. Be willing to go without rather than have a bad thing and one will grow in
good
taste.
not talk too loudly in public or parade personal grievances in conversation do not hesitate to do so in a living-room or dining-room. Further analogies might be given, but this is sufficient for any one to see that rooms, except very personal ones, like bedrooms or boudoirs, are not the places in
their
Many who would

own
which to exploit one's idiosyncrasies. Impersonal treatment of impersonal objects will seem personal enough to the varied kinds and types of people who must come and go in the ordinary room. In every problem, however, there are certain things we shall call them premises that may well form part of the foundation plan for decorating any room. No one of these is more important than geography. Any room in Florida presents a different problem from
241
INTERIOR DECORATION
room in the Adirondack Mountains. The town house with its imperfect light, coming, perhaps, from two directions, perhaps one, is quite another problem from the country house with its open fields and adequate light from all sides. The problem of the house on the hill and the one in the valley presents two different aspects in the matter of colour and form. Trees close to the house, dense shrubbery and other objects change the plan from the very outset. In the hot, sunny South there is the problem of In the getting air and excluding the burning sun. extreme North there is the air to come in but cold to
the same
be kept out while the sun is admitted. This has a decided influence on the placement, size and number of windows, and the location and arrangement of doors, halls and the like, and also upon the shutters, hangings
and window
accessories.
The
is
side of the house
also of importance.
on which the room is located The south and southeast, with
their almost continuous sun, call for a choice of cooler
the contrary, with its cold generally gray light, requires warmer and more luscious colour than the southeast, or even the southwest, of the same house.
colours.
The northwest, on
This is a matter of function only. The Southern house must be comfortable perhaps the year round, It must not only with the temperature above normal. be so and made that air can be physically structurally easily circulated without admitting too much heat or light, but colour must be chosen which is an antidote or complement to the extreme heat of the atmosphere.
Warm
242
rich reds, oranges
and yellows are inappropriate
- -
S H s o g O f?
I*H
il H
-:
W K H fe K
* *
fe OD
ill
0-
X
[g
O W
O

where the temperature expresses the same quality. Greens, blue greens, blues, violets and some yellows may be used in warm temperatures. The reverse of this is true in the Northern house, in which the climatic conditions are directly opposite, and something of the same result is sought. Make colour do the work which the climatic condition does not; let it act on consciousness as a supplement to what is being forced on us through the senses. This
is
what colour
is
for.
Its function is to stimulate
certain ideas in the mind, either consciously or uncon-
produces a pleasurable aesthetic sensation and also has a neutralizing effect upon other
sciously.
it
Thus
sensations.
The
city house
must be treated
in colour in precisely
the same way: the north side in warm colours, the south in cooler. This does not mean that full intense
even half intense, in any of these tones must be used, but it does mean that if the cool colours domcolours, or
inate in the southern exposures and the warm ones in the northern exposures, there is a feeling of equality,
consistency and harmony in the house unit that cannot be obtained otherwise. This rule has many modifications. For example, some persons must have more intense colour about them than others. Some believe they cannot exist unless they have a blue, a red or a green room, believing
that, temperamentally, they require
kind.
something of the There are many other things that influence
this general statement but, in the main, the rule should be followed. If one is to spend only the summer months in a
243
INTERIOR DECORATION
country house, and if the climate during that time is warm, nothing is more helpful in obtaining comfort than rooms in light, cool colours. Let the blues, greens and their hues dominate; let the yellows be
neutralized to an old ivory, and introduce only sufficient warm colour to give the personal and exciting note necessary to vitalize the room.
These general geographical situations are the first thing to consider in furnishing and decorating any room A decorator or an owner who attempts in the house.
to select a trim, a wall paper, or a rug without first asking himself how many windows there are in the
room, from what direction the light comes, how much sun the room gets, and what part of the day it gets it, has omitted the one thing which will help him to decide
on a right background. On the other hand, it is as essential to know whether a room is to be used during the entire year or a portion of it, and whether sunlight is
obscured by nearby bushes or other buildings, as it is to know whether it is a dining-room, a bedroom or a living-room that is to be furnished.
Geography, then, plays an important part, and even the choice of material out of which a house If the house is to appear as a part of is to be built. the landscape surrounding it, it must be built of something which seems to have some connection with that landscape. In some places white marble is out of
affects
place; in others brick

so.
equally from the idea of the landscape.

it is
and other kinds of stone are Sometimes a wooden house is remote
Whenever
this is the
case, quite impossible to harmonize the house with the grounds and with the more remote accessories of 244
<f-t H
ANOTHER CORNER OF THE SAME BEDROOM, ILLUSTRATING CONVENIENCE AND DECORATIVE PLACINGS AND WINDOW DECORATIVE TREATMENT.

becomes a related part. Harmony between the landscape and the house is fundamentally important from the standpoint of the exterior. Another important premise is the function of the room. If one has decided to paper several rooms in his house, and he visits a wall-paper shop with this in mind, he will often find a salesman who displays his wares,
which
it
declaring:
"We
more than any others,"

rage."
are using these papers this season or, "This colour is all the
Sometimes, too, textures figure as yearly fads. Japanese grass cloths, glazed papers, foliage, matted The function of surface, etc., all have had their day. the room is a question that is fundamental and has nothing to do with what is selling best or what is newest. If a paper is for a bedroom, let it express the bedroom
idea of sleep and rest. The value of the paper, light or dark, is a matter of taste, sometimes a matter affected by the age of the occupant. It may also be modified
in value by the amount of light in the room and by the fact of being a country house or a town house. But two things are essential in this room rest and sleep
matters not what the style is, these qualities should be present. If the hue is to be decided by the direction and amount of light admitted to the room, by the objects that are already there, and by the perit
and
sonal preference of the occupant of the room, there are three influences any one of which may be entirely antagonistic to the other two. Who shall decide which one to sacrifice? Rest and sleep comes first then choice without doubt. personal
If the
little
room has very little light, the colour may be a more intense than it otherwise should be, but the
245
INTERIOR DECORATION
background colour is fixed by the law of background, not personal whim. Neither southern exposures nor
the vogue of the day will
make
a too intense back-
ground right for
rest or sleep in
is
any house.
fundamental wherever a room is, or whoever occupies it. What is true of one of a type
Function, then,
of
room
is
true of the others of the
same
type.
Another obstacle that often interferes with the selection of material has been somewhat discussed in the
previous chapter. This is the fact that objects already in the room must be retained there as associates of the
The study of historic periods shows one so the clearly quality value of every article of furniture that one should be familiar with furnishings as quality
ones.
new
The straight-lined architectural features expressions. of an Italian chair or a Mission desk present a firm,
unrelenting, yet simple quality effect which should
immediately be recognized. The qualities of an object should be detected at sight Everything in furniture and furnishing means something. This elemental meaning
.
is
the expression of an idea, and it is quite simple to find other ideas which in combination express a whole.
remember a game played with letters of the alphabet cut and pasted on small cardboard squares. One way of using these was to take a certain number of letters and see how many words could be made out of these letters. Another was to take a certain word and
of us
Some
see
how many
idea.
other words could be
made from
the
letters of that
word.
Each letter
in
each case expressed
an
"simple," for example, contains six letters, each different in its meaning and form
five.
The word
from the other

246
If
any four
of these letters
were

given,
and one were asked to make the completed word "simple," he would find no difficulty in supplying the other two letters from the collection. This is precisely what should be done in interior
Take account of stock before you paper the wall, buy new hangings, or add a chair, a desk or a Determine what you want your room to extable. when it is done, and then there are two different press things to remember: first, buy the thing which you know supplies one of the missing letters in your word, and do not buy anything that does not supply it; in the second place, remember that when you have supplied the two letters, there are no more letters needed, and if you find a cheap object, or even a beautiful one,
decoration.
not required to complete your word, it is superand never can be a part of your original idea. You decided that when you selected the word "simple" " instead of Constantinople" as your room idea. If people would see this much, there would be no very bad rooms, so far as putting new objects with
that
is
fluous
those already acquired is concerned. Remember, then, that a scale quality which is ponderous and heavy must not be supplemented with an
object which
relates these
informal and tiny, except there be some middle grounds in which a scale is found that
is light,
different things. Great divergence in colour relationships in textures, size, shapes and line
two
must be harmonized in the same way. This is done by remembering the Greek law and the subtle A reversion to relationships which it makes possible.
directions
principle
is
always safe in forming a
critical
judgment
247
in the field of applied arts.
INTERIOR DECORATION
The room quality which causes most discussion

sonality.
is
per-
hard to believe that another's personality It is still harder to is as important as one's own. believe that some one else may have a more pleasing conception of anything than we have ourselves. Remember that a room to live in and one to look at are two things and that you do not have to live in every
It
is
room you
see or create.
interior
Many
decorators err in supposing that
because they have succeeded in developing a type of room which has been called beautiful and successful, they can apply the same treatment to any room. It
is
astounding
how many
rooms while thinking about themselves.

alogous to the case of a physician
diagnosis
decorators plan other people's This is an-
who
introspection, determining internal organs. Then, having decided vhe himself feels, advises his client what to take.
of his
by
first
begins his the state
own
how
of personality is more important than functional fitness or old things which must geography, be retained. It is more important because every
The matter
person is more interested in himself than he is in anything else try as he may to be otherwise. He wants something, and knowing what he wants, believes that he has a right to express that want. The skillful decorator finds out all he possibly can of the personal characteristics of his client, his likes
and
dislikes, natural
tendencies and idiosyncrasies, before he shows wall cover or discusses the cost of furniture.
him any
By
the
way, this question of cost is the last thing to mention. few moments' conversation will usually show whether
A
a
client likes red or blue,
and should
also
disclose
248

whether she ought to have it or not. Manifest antagonism is not the method by which to obtain the desired result, but a gradual elimination of one idea and the substitution of another. This is tact.
apparently so in other fields. Some personalities are expressed in erratic motions; such persons, for their peace of mind, should be set in a perfectly balanced, well-held and consistent room. To so lead and influence the client that he believes the room to be arranged according to his own idea is the work of the clever decorator. When the right setting for the personality is attained, the client is, almost without exception, pleased, even though he may have rebelled during the process. The essentials of a room are far too significant to permit a personal fancy to interfere with right usage. The matter of backgrounds, the method of hanging curtains, the consistent structural arrangement of furniture, modifications of this structure by the freer elements, the balanced arrangement for rest and the proper placement of decorative objects are not open to
is is
What
true of colour
personal whim. They are governed by common sense and the laws of choice and arrangement which are
fundamental in any right design. But the final hue choice in colour, how dark or how light the room shall be, or what shall be the dominating characteristic of
the room, are questions for personal choice. The personal touch, too, is shown, or should be, in the smaller articles in the room, which by their choice
and placement indicate the character

This personal touch
is
of the occupant.
found in the
selection,
framing
are
249
and hanging
of pictures, although the
way they
INTERIOR DECORATION
hung and framed
choice.
is
largely a matter of impersonal

is felt
The
personal touch again
in the selection
and
arrangement of flowers. Both these subjects will be treated later in detail, but a person who habitually selects arid uses lilies is a very different person from
one
who
American A few photographs,
uses carnations, or one who would chose beauty roses not to mention orchids.
too,
if
properly framed add a personal touch to the quality of a living-room. Pieces of pottery or other decorative objects sometimes give just
the note that makes the
room the visible expression of the
inward thought of the person who occupies the room. Personality should not interfere with the fundamentals of selection or arrangement which are necessary to good taste. The larger facts are not determined by personal preference, but the way in which they are interpreted varies with personality, and the smaller or more decorative objects in the room may be very personal if they are not ostentatiously displayed, or if there are not too many of them in too prominent a place. The same thing is true of people. In the main, our friends are all alike. The fundamental facts of their structure, mental and physical, and of their decorative Perqualities, mental and physical, are the same. sonal traits do not change fundamental facts. It is, however, essential that decorators should understand not only their business but their clients. Those, also, who have houses should not understand themselves
their own whims alone, they should also understand the laws which govern choice and arrangement
and
in all houses.
250
PART
III
CHAPTER XVII
SOME SPECIAL SUGGESTIONS

CHOICE, FRAMING AND HANGING PICTURES, HANGING CURTAINS, METHODS OF LIGHTING, CHOICE OF DECORATIVE OBJECTS, GENERAL PLACEMENT
FOR many
art.
years pictures alone were regarded as fine Art study meant picture painting, while art appreciation was synonomous with picture discussion.
realization that art quality in pictures is identical with art quality in chairs and rugs has been gradual.
The
This realization will lead to a better choice and a more consistent use of pictures in interior decoration. One needs to have not only a feeling for a beautiful picture, but a sense of its fitness as a wall decoration, and of its harmony with any type of furnishings to be used with it.
periods painting developed with other branches of art. The High Renaissance in Italy found expression for its qualities in pictures,
furniture, textiles
During the
historical
The
painters of the days of Louis
and other art objects simultaneously. XV, like Watteau

precisely the qualities in their
and Fragonard, expressed
pictures that the cabinetmakers, the textile weavers and the metal workers expressed in their fields. Thus
251
INTERIOR DECORATION
are periods clearly defined, but it is sufficient for us to see the correspondence between pictures and other objects of art expressing the
Strictly strictly period pictures; not always pictures painted in that period, for many period pictures, like period furniture, were poor expressions of the period idea; but what they
same idea. rooms should have period
should have is a picture whose spirit and feeling are precisely that expressed by the other articles in use during that period. In rooms, however, in which the strict period idea is not intended, a wider range of
picture choice is possible. There is no reason, however, for a wild and unrelated choice in pictures any more
than in other decorative objects. The same harmony of idea should be apparent that is felt in any other quality that the room expresses. These are the fundamental points in the choice of pictures for interior decoration.
Another and closely related element is the medium which the picture is expressed. There are oils, water colours, prints, photographs, etchings and steel engravings. These textures have about the same
in
relation to each other that burlap, linen, cotton bedIt is ticking, chiffon and cane-seated chairs have.
impossible to harmonize them all in the one room, or, in fact, to bring any two or three of them closely together.
If there is
one
oil
delicate matter to introduce
painting in the ordinary room, it is a any other picture in any

it is
other medium.
Of course,
possible that a water
colour might be broadly enough treated and of a subject

closely enough allied to make it possible. photoin oil a similar of an treated, painting, similarly graph 252
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under some conditions, used. Very rarely is it possible to combine any of these excepting prints with photographs, etchings with steel engravings, or, occasionally, a water colour with dil. Too many pictures together in any media indicate bad taste. We can learn much from the Japanese in that regard. They hang one picture at a time of the
spirit,
might
be,
right size in the right place and, after having enjoyed that for some time, change it for another, and another;
but they never present their pictures in herds or droves. As to frames, what they are and what they should The birth and evolution be, volumes could be written. of the picture frame is a subject that no one has, so The function of the frame is to hold the far, exploited in picture place, demark it slightly from the wall on which it is hung, but still relate it to the wall, and make easy the transition from it to the picture. When a picture frame does this, and in no way detracts from
the picture
tion
itself, it is
good.
When
it
attracts atten-
garish glitter, its erratic ornament, or its prodigious size, at the expense of the picture itself, it is one of the surest indexes of bad taste on the part of
by
its
the owner.
Whatever
orative.
is
on the wall
is
Right here let
it
a part of it or it is not decbe said that those frames
which project forward like an unnatural growth cease to be decorative. One feels them to be a thing separate from the wall itself. In the good days, when pictures were really decorations, they were either painted on the
wall spaces, or hung in panels or other spots to which they were suited in size and shape. Of late, owing to the influence of the Decadent Renaiswall, painted to
fit
253
INTERIOR DECORATION
by ornate, vulgar and expensive gilt frames whose only excuse for being was their showiness and their cost. The sooner this
over-ornamented style
the sooner
pictures will
in picture frames is eliminated, take their rightful place as a
sance, they have been surrounded
factor in the decorative idea.
It
is
because of these
abuses that pictures have fallen somewhat into disuse by all good decorators and most sensible house furnishers. For years the gilt frame held the field. Of late there
has been a decided improvement, and when gilt is used it is now toned either warm or cool, and very much dulled, so that it seems, in many instances, to relate, somewhat, to the picture itself, being similarly keyed. Quite frequently, even now, it is not sufficiently keyed so that it has any relation to the wall surface upon which
hung. Both the picture and the wall should be taken into consideration in th'e choice of a frame with reference to its value and intensity relationship. The motifs of decoration upon gilt picture frames are generally of a historic character, some Florentine, These motifs are some French and others Flemish. the same that appeared in furniture and other art
it is
objects and, of course, are expressive of the period It is a strange fancy to ideas for which they stood. have taken these historic motifs, enlarged them and
made them more prominent, and then to have worked them into a picture frame. These frames are often
of totally unrelated periods, and are used on pictures expressing ideas so foreign to those expressed by the
motifs that they are quite antagonistic in character. Frequently a Decadent Renaissance frame is seen
about such a picture as a Millet, or a French Louis

254
XV
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H
03
ta
fc
HI |c p
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o H
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frame on a Holbein. What could be more ridiculous than such combinations as these, and why will the intelligent public submit to such things because a picture framer or a so-called artist does not know any better? This is a field in which the common sense of the public can be relied upon to make a change as soon as it is
aroused to a consciousness of the truth.
Water
flat gilt
colours are sometimes well framed in dull, frames, and sometimes in wooden ones. Jap-
anese prints are generally good in dead black, flat wood mouldings. In photographs there is a very wide range.
Browns are the favoured tones. The frames should be wood, in the same hue, not more intense, and of a value
a
than the darkest tone in the picture. always produce an agreeable result. The size, width and strength of the mouldings depend upon several things and are too much a question of feeling to admit of a hard and fast rule. Large, single objects require a wider and stronger frame than
little
lighter
This
will
delicate small ones in the
same picture
size.
Violent
motions of water, trees or animals require a stronger sustaining power than the subdued or quiet sunset or May-day farm scenes. Strong and vivid colour requires a stronger frame than neutral and finely blended combinations. Where strength and motif action prevail there width and prominence in frame appear; where quiet, closely harmonious combinations exist, a less powerful frame or support is required. Usually the frames selected are too wide and, more often than not, too
much ornamented and too brilliant or intense in colour. The matted picture has had its day. Only in rare instances now is it used. An occasional water colour,
255
INTERIOR DECORATION
for example, a
is
placed
it.
gem or jewel, being upon a mat that is quite
too tiny to frame,
related in tone to both the water colour
inconspicuous and and the frame
about
picture to the frame.
This makes an easy transition from the The same thing may be said of
etchings
picture.
Photographs and prints are no longer mounted on mats but are framed, as they should be, close to the
.
mounting small photographs or other pictures on two or more colours, or of leaving a white or a black streak around the photograph to form another frame has long since been felt. One moulding or frame In rare cases a narrow is sufficient in most instances.
fallacy of
The
The intense gilt edge inside the wood is permissible. red and green as well as the pure white mats of the olden days are gone forever, with the rest of their Victorian associates.
In general, oils and other large pictures should be hung, when possible, so that the eye of the average person standing will be about opposite the centre of the picture. This is as high as pictures under ordinary circumstances can be hung. Reference has before been made to the way they should be hung. If wire or cord be used, let two appear, each parallel with the side of the frame, and each extending, in harmony with other vertical lines,
Hanging pictures
is
an
art.
to a
hook at the picture moulding.
Make
this
hang-
ing just as inconspicuous as possible. Tone the wires to the wall if possible so that they are practically invisible.
Anything which serves to emphasize the wire or picture hook is not only ugly but inconsistent. When pictures are to be hung in groups they must
256

be very carefully chosen. Most of us have small photographs or other pictures so personal that we think we cannot part with them and must hang them. We
have no place on the wall suited to them in size or shape. We must, therefore, put two or three together, though this should be done as rarely as possible. Several groups of these upon a wall are non-decorative and When groups are to be generally express bad form. two or there are two things vitally three, hung, say important first, the tops of these pictures must be on a straight line; second, they must be hung quite close together, say two or three inches apart, so that they seem easily to unite and form one decorative spot. To scatter or spatter them about is to use the whole decorative effect as a wall spot. These are generally better framed to stand on a table or cabinet than to arrange
:
as wall decorations.
important question is what shall appear under Sometimes we pictures if they are hung upon a wall. see them hung without any relation whatever to furniture pieces, that is, they are hung in any place on the wall where there seems to be a bare spot. A picture of any considerable size with a frame of any perceptible weight is not very decorative on the wall unless directly under it is some article of furniture to which it seems to belong. A picture should be hung for example over a cabinet or console. The picture alone would be an impossible excrescence, but if some articles are used on the cabinet or console which bring the group somewhere near the picture, then the console, the decorative
articles
An
and the picture together form an agreeable

257
decorative group.
INTERIOR DECORATION
Pictures
must be hung
of the wall.
flat to
the wall in order to
only one excuse for allowing them to dip at the top, and that is that they may get a better light. This, however, does not in the When picleast influence the matter of decoration.
form a part
There
is
tures are
ture,
hung
and not not decoratively placed when they are so hung.

Let us try to
exists for the picthe picture for the room, for they are
in this
way
the
room
select pictures that are in subject, in
treatment and in framing, harmonious with each other and also with the various objects we are using with them in the room. Let us look to it that they are properly hung flat, with two wires, if any properly grouped, and related to other objects by their placement in the room. Under such conditions few pictures are Too many pictures have as essential in most rooms. bad an effect as too many of anything else, and a bad treatment of pictures is worse than a bad treatment of other things, because pictures are more capable of extremes in good and bad than most articles, and there are more ways to misuse them because of their great range possibility. The greatest care is necessary then
to limit the number, carefully decide the treatment, or,
when in doubt, use none. Next in importance to the background of a room is the
matter of
curtains or hangings. From one viewpoint they are really a part of the background. From another angle, however, they are more than this: they
its
are the
first
decorative idea used with the walls and
trim as a background for them. A discussion of curtains and hangings involves two questions: what to
hang and how to hang

258
it.

While no specific rules can be given as to what shall be used, some hints may be helpful. In the first place, there is the question of their relation to the function If my room is already too dark or too of the window. light, I must choose my hangings with this as a modifying
idea.
regard is possible, then less attention should be given to the thinness or thick-
If considerable latitude in this
ness and the general textural weight of the material used. The question of lighting also affects the colour. It
must be remembered that yellow produces light; black absorbs it. Blues, reds and violets are nearer black and, therefore, more powerful in absorbing colour than in reflecting it. All this must be considered before the
colour
note.
is
finally
determined.
also
Hangings must
If
be considered as a decorative
plain,
the walls are proper backgrounds
simple and free from objects which attract undue attention the curtains may be stronger in colour and
more
striking in pattern,
and
still
be of a most
fasci-
nating decorative quality. Printed linens, damasks, brocades, brocatelles, etc., according to the character of the room, may be used
with simple backgrounds to produce a simple decorative If the patterns show a floral treatment the effect. decorative effect is better when the curtains are drawn aside, thus presenting a charming colour effect without the introduction of the naturalistic idea in a too prominent way. If more than one set of curtains is to be hung, the
inner pair
may
be net,
fine plain lace, thin silk or case-
ment
in
cloth, according to the textural quality needed the design idea. The outer or heavy hanging, 259
INTERIOR DECORATION
which
is
more within the room, may be
of
any
of the
heavy materials before mentioned. This outer hanging serves three purposes: it adds a note of richness and elegance to the decorative idea, it may be used to
regulate the
when
amount of light during the daytime, and closely drawn at night gives to the room an air of
and privacy as well as richness that
little
is
seclusion
hard
to obtain in any other way. How to hang curtains is a
harder to determine.
Window
trims and other extenuating circumstances differ so radically that a general law is likely to be misis
is a joy to arrange the such a that the window trim is way heavy hangings This is true sometimes of doors. entirely covered. If the windows are particularly small in scale for the room, this same treatment may be used to advantage. When a note of larger decorative area is desirable, it
Sometimes woodwork applied. so hideous in treatment, that it

in
so
bad
in colour, or
may be attained in this way also.

In general, however, the inside curtain that is, the one next the glass should be hung inside the window This is done by extending a small brass rod casing. across the top well within the window casing toward
the glass. If cords and travellers are obtainable, the inner curtain should be plaited in single plaits at intervals, so that
will exactly
when the curtains are hung in place they fill the window space when drawn together
This allows the curtain to hang in folds When the regularly arranged and pleasingly placed. curtains are drawn, the window space is filled and,
in the centre.
when
260
pulled apart, the curtain easily adjusts decorative way.
itself in

The
material should be arranged with a heading
at the top, stiffened in some way so that it obscures the brass pins which are fastened into the back of the cur-
the rod there are small brass rings into which these pins are fastened and the mechanics of the curThe curtain are hidden by the heading at the top.
tain.
On
tains should be of such a length that they just escape the window sill. They may be pulled close or left
wide open without any
effort;
and they
fit
their space
and place as a decorative

that the function of the
idea.
In hanging curtains one should always bear in mind window must not be interfered
with; neither must the function of the curtain. The material must be so arranged that the largest measure
is obtained. The above suggestions, followed, will lead to this result. Sometimes the outer or heavy hangings may also be hung within the window casing in the same way as
of decorative effect
if
the inner hangings, excepting that the former should be placed near the edge of the casing toward the room.
When the rod is placed at the extreme outer edges of the

casing, it should be raised far enough toward the top to conceal the casing. In this case, small brackets are
used which will be covered by the hanging. The same era that produced clumsy picture frames,
gorgeous and ostentatious, and produced badly proportioned grills and other atrocities, invented also the wooden curtain pole, with its brass ends and other trimmings. Discard these and all objects of their kind as impossible to the decorative sense. The brass rods should be no larger than is essential to perform
their function.
If possible,
they should be dulled in

261
INTERIOR DECORATION
colour until they are unobtrusive and show little against The rings, pins and other trappings the background.
should be kept on the side nearest the glass and out of sight, as all other machinery must be where art or decorative quality is concerned. It may be inferred from this that two sets of curtains
This is not always the case. In some places, and under some conditions, window shades or blinds are essential. It is a pity that this is so because of their extreme ugliness. When they are used they should be kept rolled up and out of sight, excepting
are generally desirable.
when performing
sets of curtains it
their necessary function. With is less necessary to use shades.
two
There are times also when the window is so small, the lighting capacity so inadequate, and the scale of the room and furniture so light that it is a mistake to have more than one pair of hangings. In an extreme case of this kind a thin net or muslin might answer the purIf a shade or blind is used, this should be hung pose.
within the casing.
Probably no one material is as effective in as many ways and under as varied conditions for a single curThis tain as what is known as English casement cloth.
is good in the country, in the town house, in the North and in the South. It is available for a moderate price and is good enough to use almost anywhere.
used, almost without exception, these curtains should stop at the casement r ith the two pairs, the preference is for the heavy line.
When
one pair of curtains
is
hangings to escape the floor by an inch or two.

is
This
decorative and hygienic.

It
must be borne
in
mind, whatever the problem
is,
262

that the right idea in hangings is of the first importance in interior decoration after the background has been
determined.
It
may be wise,
while discussing the hangings as they
relate to the
window
to the treatment of
wood
ground.
Wood may
trim, to say something in regard as it is a part of the backbe considered from two points of
view only: first, the natural wood, and second an artificial treatment of it. There was a time when it was considered a sin to obscure in any way a natural grain or other unusual and ofttimes ugly marks which nature had impressed on wood. A grain had to be brought out clearly and Besides this, it was varnished or glazed distinctly. Not so many until it appeared like wood under glass. so as to we even went far paint the surface years ago of wood, imitating its colour and streaking it with fine
tooth and coarse tooth combs, creating grains more grotesque and improbable than original ones could be.
This insincere attempt to copy nature

all.
is
the worst of
In any kind of wood there are beautiful and ugly The beautiful ones are the characteristic ones pieces. which are not grotesque miscarriages in nature. These
woods often beautiful in colour, charming in texture and pleasing withal may be made ugly by any of the treatments above mentioned. Let them be treated in an oil or French finish in such a way that their salient qualities appear, their texture is in no way disturbed and their surface looks like wood, neither glass nor any other material being suggested by it. This
is
the proper treatment for natural wood.

iCS
INTERIOR DECORATION
Often it is impossible to arrive without changing materially the still natural wood or unpainted Certain in the decorative idea.
at decorative effects
colour of the wood;
wood has
methods
its
place
of staining
wood are successful in keying it to backgrounds which must be used if the idea of the room is not destroyed.
ble
Great care should be taken, however, that an impossiwood colour is not used if the wood is to show If the its grain and look natural in all but its colour. conventional stain is used it must in some way conventionalize the other qualities of the
wood in order that be harmonious. should they The second treatment of wood I shall call artificial. During periods in history that have reached high states
of social
charm, where manners, customs and life expressions were more or less artificial, it has been found necessary to do away with the grains and other natural
qualities of
wood
in order that
it,
too, should express
treatment became a all were craze. Fruits, vegetables, wood and persons done in gilt. This necessitated the covering of wood with gold leaf that unity in treatment might obtain. The periods of Louis XIII and XIV are exuberant with
gilt
the same artificial life. In the Baroque Renaissance
woods made so by the gilt treatment. During XV and XVI, as well as the Engof lish periods Hepple white and Adam, paint and enamel was found to be a suitable material for exartificial
the periods of Louis
pressing the artificial idea. Painted woods did not longer claim to be woods. They represented an artificial surface, structural per-
haps in
264
its
form, decorative in
its
appearance but veiled

or hidden as to
its
actual material.
This
is
perfectly
legitimate and when followed consistently forms one of the most attractive and most flexible treatments of
often be given a suitable background if an ordinary wall paper, soft and grayed in tone, is supplemented by a trim, either deep ivory white, or, better still, by a colour as nearly as possible like the wall
This, with a ceiling the same colour, but one shade lighter, and a floor of the same tone, but darker, is one of the most charming backgrounds imaginable
covering.
for
wood so far as A room can
interior decoration is concerned.
many types of modern rooms. To consider wood as trim and not

wood
use of
give a word to the in furniture would be to leave the subject
too incomplete.
periods expressed themselves most clearly by the wood in its natural state, or nearly so others leaving treated it so that the naturalistic tendency might be
;
Some
somewhat obscured, while
in
the later French
and
English periods the surfaces were entirely covered by gilt or enamel in order that they might be brought into closer harmony with other materials.
Even
refined
in a brief
statement
Louis
face
may
treatment of this subject one general be made. In no case, excepting in very
and
XV
Georgian types, and in those styles in which a clear and transparent surartificial
was
essential, is there reason for varnishing or
It is not enough to know that a departglazing woods. ment store or a furniture factory has turned out pieces
with "a certain varnished treatment.
wood
is
essential in order that the
An expert finish of wood may take its

265
place in the decorative scheme.
INTERIOR DECORATION
The lighting of a room is of fundamental importance in the general effect. Too much thought cannot be given to the amount of light, its kind and its distribuIn the disposal of daylight we have no present concern, but the matter of artificial lighting is of the utmost importance to every house owner and to every interior decorator. Since colour is light, without it there is no colour, and by it all colour combinations may be impaired. Since the eye sees colour only, light is the element most important in interior decoration.
tive effects.
Let us consider some of the ways in which rooms have been lighted. The most impossible thing for the ordinary small room is the central chandelier. The chandelier of Louis XIV and XV with its glass prisms sparkling amidst the lights is an idea that is consistent with the background, furnishings and clothing of the people for whom the setting was planned. This same chandelier idea translated into Jacobean terms is quite another matter. To put it into modern apartment house decoration is an even more difficult problem. It is not necessary to discuss in detail the hideous things that have been chosen as lighting fixtures.
They
are in
is
many cases grotesque beyond words.

not their worst
fault.
This,
however, They in such a way that, unless everything is in the centre of the room, it is impossible to produce
pleasing effects, as well as irrational to expect to use of the lights.
light a room concentrated
make
Side bracket lighting is a great improvement over if the room is small enough to get sufficient light in this way. A later invention is called the
the chandelier,
60

It has the great advantage of a on the floor or near it, but also producing pleasing light the much greater disadvantage of unduly lighting the last place in the world that should be lighted. Of what use is a brilliantly lighted ceiling, and how can one expect to keep his attention on the lower part of the room when the upper part is brilliantly lighted? Besides
indirect lighting system.
an unwarranted waste of light. None of these systems so far seems to be adequate in function or beauty. True, an occasional man says he has never seen a room too light. It might be remarked that every one does not need to be knocked down to know that he is hit, neither is it necessary in every case to fire a cannon to make one recognize that a noise has been made. It is equally needless to use all the
being inartistic,
it is
possible to get to obtain functional fitness or charming combination. What we see depends wholly on what we are and what we see with.
light
it is
The most
wise
successful
way
and
side lights, well placed,
of lighting a room is by by lamps electric or other-
distributed judiciously about the room. The size of the room and its function determine largely the
number and placement

in such
an
of these lamps. It is possible arrangement to have light enough for any

little
purpose at any time,
enough
for comfort
and
rest
and exactly the right amount in the right to bring out any group of things in the room or place the entire room as may be desired.
when
desired,
for reading, sewing, writing, or to call attention to groups of furniture or decorative objects, as the case may be. This and
this
These lamps should be placed
way
only
is
successful in bringing out the
charm
267
INTERIOR DECORATION
which every living-room should possess in the evening. The shading of these lamps, and the side lights as well, is a matter of great moment. In fact, more depends upon this, probably, than upon the placement of the lamps. No one colour is always good in all places and under all circumstances, but all soft, neutralized tones of
yellow, yellow orange, orange, red orange, yellow green, green and blue green are quite possible under certain The yellows and orange tones, of course, conditions.
have the widest range of usefulness. These need not be brilliant in intensity, nor can one say they should be light or dark in value. The texture of the material depends upon the textural decorative idea of the room. Sometimes China silk is light and graceful enough in feeling, and sometimes a brocade, taffeta, damask and even paper parchment has been used with astonishing decorative effect when the texture of the room was considered as a quality in the design.
One
thing
is
almost certain.
The shades must be
covered not only around the sides but on the top with the material and lined with white. Often two thicknesses of the material are used with the white lining
to concentrate the light and throw it down upon the This soft, objects one desires to light brilliantly. distributed about the room soothing light properly
in certain parts of the room a delight, while other portions of the room are lighted
makes reading and writing
such a manner that rest, calm and repose are the feelings induced. Lighting, then, should be considered, like everything else, a matter of fitness and a method of tying together the apparently unrelated elements of a
in
268

one unit of keyed colour so that not only beauty, but pleasure through it, is the inevitable outcome. There is an opportunity for fine distinction in the selection and arrangement of bric-a-brac or ornament. The room, when finished, is a unit, or should be. This does not mean that it should contain one idea only. It means that only such qualities of colour, form, line and texture should be associated together as accord in spirit and are harmonious. The principles of colour and form as discussed in Part I should aid one in deciding when things are comIt does not take a fortable as parts of a general whole. keen sense of to see that a picture of very appreciation the period of Henry II and Marie de Medici is quite out of harmony with a Gothic chest panel or a Gothic
in
room
Nor does it take much imagination to see that figure. the curved-line, symbolic, and imaginative detail of the Gothic period is quite out of concord with the dancing,
sprightly gayety of the curves used in the time of Louis
XV.
Sevres ware, in its texture, colour and import, is a part of the period of Louis XV. It is as forbidding
with some other pottery or ornament opposed to

spirit as the other articles of furniture
it
in
which we have Old Chinese pottery of the Ming dynasty is useful in Italian, Early English, Early French and modern rooms to as large an extent as any one ornament type. That is because it is of a refined, subdued It colour, graceful shape and no obtrusive design. would scarcely find a place, however, in the late French or late Georgian styles, where daintiness and light and
named.
INTERIOR DECORATION
daring treatments are the particular charm of these
such things are used In very luxurious ones this is almost in most rooms. There is an equal chance to overdo certain to be true. The this matter in the cheapest kind of material. on and other sale so stores shops place department
periods. It is safe to say that too
many
much
wildly formed, badly covered, cheaply manufactured stuff, which they call pretty, that people with a desire for beauty, and not too much taste culti-
There can vation, are quite likely to fall a prey. scarcely be too few pieces of ornament unless one is
such pieces are beautiful in themselves, in harmony with the rest of the room and positively essential as a decorative note in the general scheme. With this key no one can go far astray. There are herds of cows, droves of sheep, flocks of birds and regiments of men; but what shall we call the general use of flowers in compressed masses as they are commonly used with the idea that they are decorative? When the Japanese are able to see two flowers in one vase they have arrived at an extravagant use of these the most beautiful of nature's materials.
certain
Three are seen together very rarely. How often one is appalled at the number of roses that it is possible to squeeze into one small jar. When it is not possible to get them all in, of course they can be thrown around upon the table. There also seems to be some lack of consideration as to where the crowded bowl shall finally find a resting-place. Flowers, for the sake of flowers in a room, are not decorative. They
are decorative
270
when they
are of the kind in colour,

textural feeling
and arrangement to harmonize with
the place in which they are put; otherwise they are an unrelated element in the room.
Vases, which are as attractive in themselves as flowers are by themselves, are bad decorative adjuncts. There
no better way to show flowers than to use them in glass vases, where their beautiful stems are as delightful as the flowers themselves. Use few in one place; careis
fully select
them as to kind; put them together well in the vase, and carefully place them with reference to This will give flowers a place in their surroundings.
the scheme of interior decoration befitting their beauty
and
also respecting their nature quality.

will
Somebody
dining-room?"
to cite
ask:
All the
"What about china way along it has seemed
for
easier
bad things in china than in any other medium. this time it must be clear that even china must be By subject to the same laws of selection as other articles of furnishing and fitting. When plain white china is used there can be no great Plain white, however, does not always seem discord. to be strong enough structurally for the scale of the table and other dining-room accessories. The structural effect may be greatly strengthened and the decorative idea appear when a plain gilt band is used, or
something so nearly approaching this that strengthening of structure is the fundamental impression one receives from it. Let us remember that china is no place to show pictures and that if pictures on dishes become more important than the dishes themselves, the same conditions must obtain as those in which the picture frame is more
271
INTERIOR DECORATION
important than the picture, or the carving on the chair more appealing than its proportion or the comfort derived from sitting in it. If flowers must be used in any other way than that described, their decorative material should be structurally applied, carefully
censored as to amount, and the motifs so conventionalized that they are unquestionably "nature to the material in which it is expressed."
adapted
These simple
way
details are submitted in a practical that it may be clear to him who reads that the
is
not unimportant in the final criticism This criticism must leave the mind of any room. convinced that the room is a unit: a unit, first, in its function idea perfectly expressed, and second, a unit in beauty of expression, no element of which can be taken from it, and to which no element can be added without
smallest detail
destroying the fundamental idea. Every house ever built was really a period house. The modern American house, like any other period house,
must,
be considered with reference to the way Man now looks not to the in which it is to be used. find to something copy or to graft on to some past to
first of all,
irregular
modern
background as an adequate expression of life, neither is he satisfied with mere housing
The house appears to the qualities. educated thinking man as a necessity and as an environment for mental comfort and natural growth. Decorators and owners alike are coming to see that
or sheltering
life
in this country is expressed in scientific terms; that with the present viewpoint, as a people we cannot develop a consciousness capable of feeling the art
quality as did the Italians during the Renaissance

272

Nor can we realize the imaginative possibilities period. in it as expressed in the Gothic period. They are seeing
more surely the psychological relation between man and his works and the indisputable power of environment in determining one's future efficiency.
are getting also nearer to the truth that prinare expressed in the language of colour and form ciples as truly as they are in musical tones or through words
They
or other symbols which express man's ideas. are going to test the house, its furnishings, and
They
its
de-
corations, by the common-sense standard of functional modern fitness as well as from the intellectual and emotional standpoint of beauty, realizing the power of beauty in life development. This opens a new chapter
in the field of interior decoration.
With these conditions in mind, every individual should approach his own problem. He will remember, then, that his house expresses himself, his intelligence, his ideas of art, his best conceptions of the aesthetic
idea, and, so far as his
means
will allow, the qualities
of materials
fold ideal.
which are best suited to fulfill this threeThis viewpoint dignifies the personal idea
and places it foremost in the consideration of the decoraIn the next place he will contion of a modern house. sider carefully the individual function of every room and how he can most consistently express this functional idea.
The geography
of a house,
and
all it
exacts, one's
present incumbrances, their limitations and their possibilities, together with the knowledge of periods and all that they imply, these are also considerations of
importance to him
who would
realize the perfect ideal 273
INTERIOR DECORATION
of the house, and each room in the house, as a personal creation and a form of self-expression. All this must be given in the language of colour,
form, line and texture, governed by the principles which are the very structure of this language. Letting
one's feelings and imagination be governed by his intelligence, the house will be sincere, consistent and
suited to the person associated with
it
and
living in
it.
It can be in this way no better, and should be no worse, than the individual whose personal creation it is.
THE END
274
INDEX
INDEX
Adam
brothers,
Work of the, 204-205
Aesthetic judgment, 13 American colour feeling, 54
Buckingham, Duke Beauty defined, 13, Beauty and use, 8
of,
143
14,
240
American house, The modern, 272

Anglo-Saxon simplicity, 172 Anne of Austria, 143
Bedroom
wall papers, 245
Bedrooms, 6
Binary colours, 22 Bird patterns, 11
Anne, Period of Queen,
see
Queen Anne
period Antiquity not beauty, 14 Arabesque ornament, 110 Arcs of circle and ellipse, 65
Bisymmetric balance experiments, 7982

Black, 27, 37-38
Area
divisions,
74-76
in,
Black walnut period, 70, 216-219 Blue, 24-25, 37

Blue, see also Primary colours
Arrangement, Taste Art, 13-15
11
Boleyn, Anne, 176
Art periods, 117-130 Art periods, see also Periods

Artistic
Book page margins, 76 Bourgeois Henry IV period, 140

Bric-a-brac, 236, 269-270
homes no
luxury, 227
The, 3 Assyrian ornament, 111 Astragal motif, 150

Artist's furnishings,
British art, see English art

Buff, see
Yellow
Building materials, 244
Aunt Jane's
table,
230
32, 50-51,
Background, The,
Backgrounds,
229
"Cabinetmaker's and Upholsterer's Guide, The," 200

Cabriole leg, The, 155, 190-191
Carpets, 9, 218 Carpets, see also Rugs Catherine de Medici, 137
Ceiling colour, 30 Ceiling, wall and floor,
A rule for, 40 Backgrounds of Louis XIV period, 150 Backgrounds of Louis XV period, 158 Backgrounds of the Little Trianon, 166
Bad Bad Bad
taste, Conservative,
234
taste,
Examples
of,
232
Law
for,
33
taste, see also
Taste
Balance, 78-87
Chair design, 97-100 Chan- placing, 60-61

Chairs, Italian Renaissance, 36, 57
Balance of shapes, 89 Balance of sizes, 90

Balance of textures, 90
Chairs of Louis
XV, 159
Banquet hall furniture, 178 Baroque Henry IV period, 140
Chairs of Louis XVI, 69 Cham, Tudor, 182
Chambers,
Sir William, 198
277
INDEX
Chandeliers, 266
Conventionalization defined, 111
Charles
II,
184
Chimney
piece,
The, 10
Conventionalizing necessary, 11 Cool colours, 28
Chinaware, Good taste in, 271 Chinese-Chippendale, 198

Chinese pottery, Old, 269
Chippendale, 202
Work of Thomas,
196-199,
Country houses, Red in, 24 Country house, The, 243 Cream, see Yellow Cromwellian furniture, 183
Curtain hanging, 63, 260-262 Curtain rods and rings, 261
Curtains, Inner
Churches, see also Meeting-houses Circle arcs, 65

City house, The, 22, 24, 243
Classic art,
and
outer, 260-261
True and
false,
124
Curtains, see also Hangings Curved-line furniture, 69
Classic idea hi Louis
XIV
architecture,
Curved
lines, 64, 189,
219-220
149
Classic motifs eliminated, 159 Classic restoration, A, 164
Decorating problem, 12 Decorating trade, 233 Decoration and ornamentation, 10 Decoration and structure, 9-10
Decoration
fallacies,
Clock,
The
Colonial, 214
Collector's furnishings, The, 3
Colonial style, The, 32, 181, 206-222
Colour, 17-55, 88, 89, 151, 156,
162,
249 Colour and

light,
Decoration, Individualism in, 238-250 Decoration, Intemperate, 161
20
Colour and personality, 249 Colour and sound, 19 Colour attraction, 88 Colour little understood, 18 Colour
qualities,
Decoration, Modern, 225-237 Decoration, Reasonable, 5

Decoration, Steps in tasteful, 229-237 Decoration, What is, 14
The
three, 27-43
Coloured objects, Arrangement of, 89 Colours, Cool and warm, 28, 29, 50-51
Colours of Louis
Decorative arrangement, 11 Decorative period qualities, 118 Decorators and personality, 248-250
Decorator's opportunity. The, 228-231 Decorator's stumbling blocks. The, 230236
XIV
period, 151
Colours of Louis
XV
period, 162-163
Colours of the regency, 156 Colour, see also Hue, Intensity, Value
Commercial-social art influence, 133
121,
Democratic ideals and English

Dentil motif, 150
art,
173
Design defined, 56 Diane de Poitiers, 136

Dining-rooms, 5 Dishes, Flowered, 8
Divisions, Mechanical
Complementary
colours, 38,
46-47
Composition, 56, 95 Connoisseur's rooms, The, 3 Consciousness and the senses, 103
and
artistic,
73-
76
Conservatism, Ill-judged, 234

Consistency in Greek art, 123 Consistent shapes and sizes, 63
Consistent structural writing, 58 Contrasts in size, 74
Door
casings, 9
Drawing-rooms, 6
Dutch Dutch
Colonial, see
influence
Middle Colonial on Queen Anne period,
187-191
278
INDEX
Ecru, see Yellow Edict of Nantes, 139, 146 Egg-and-art motif, 150
French Renaissance, 11, 128, 131-153 French styles, 145-153 French styles in America, 220
Fruit patterns, 11 Function idea dominates, 4-7, 239-240 Furniture arrangement, 60-63, 87
Furniture, "Black walnut," 70
Egyptian ornament, 110 Elephant's breath, see Purple

Ellipse arcs, 65
Elizabethan style, Application of the, 179 Elizabethan furniture, 177 Elizabethan interiors, 177 Elizabethan
period,
see
Furniture colour, 30
Furniture, Elizabethan, 177 Furniture, Italian Renaissance, 69
also
Tudor
Furniture, Mission, 70
period Elizabethan textiles, 179
Furniture of Francis
I,
136
English art, 171-174

English artistic feeling, 53 English casement cloth, 262 English idea of home, 174
Furniture of Henry II, 137 Furniture of Henry VII, 174 Furniture of Louis XIV, 151 Furniture of Louis
XV,
69, 159
English individualism, 196 English styles in America, 221
Furniture of Louis XVI, 69, 166-167 Furniture of New England, 209-210
Environment, Importance
of,
227
Furniture, Treatment of
Furniture of Queen Anne, 190-192 wood in, 165
Furniture, Tudor, 182-183
Facade study, 58-59 "Feminine" colours, 54 Feminine influence, see Women, Art
Fitness in decoration, 8-9 Fitness of art objects, 118
Furniture, see also Chippendale, Hepplewhite, Sheraton

for.
"Gentleman's and Cabinetmaker's Director,
The," 197
Flemish curve, The, 155 Flemish influence, 143, 182 Flemish

scroll, 160,
Geographical considerations important, 241-244

Gilding woodwork, 264
for,
182
Floor, ceiling
and
wall,
Law
33
Gilt picture frames, 254-255
Floor colour, 30 Floor lines, 59
Flower patterns, 11 Flower selection and arrangement, 270 Flowered furnishings, 8-9
Flowers and personality, 250
Glazed furniture, 265 Gold colour, 27 Golden Mean, The, 73
Good
taste, see
Bad
131
taste
and Taste,
Gothic
art, 125,
Form, Principles of, 56-77 Forms, straight-line and curved-line, 66 Frames for pictures, 253-256
France, the home of Gothic, 131 Francis I and his period, 132, 135
Franklin, Benjamin, 213 French artistic feeling, 53 French influence on Colonial
Grain, The, in woodwork, 263 Gravitation law and balance, 78
Gray, The neutral,
21,
27
Greek art intellectual, 72 Greek consistency, 123 Greek deduction, The, 73
style,
213
Greek idea, The, 121-124 Greek ideals of beauty, 71-73 Greek law, The, 73
279
INDEX
Greek Greek Greek Greek
law of areas, 76
moderation, 122 ornament, 110
simplicity
Individual's problem, The, 273

Intensity, a colour quality, 37-^3
"Interior decoration" misleading, 3
and
sincerity,
123
Interior decoration,
Interiors
Green, 25
Green, see Binary colours Grill work, 70
Modern, 225-237 by the Adams brothers, 205
Interiors, Elizabethan, 177
Hair flowers, 109
Hanging
pictures,
256-258
America, 220 England, 209 Interiors, Tudor, 183 Italian colour feeling, 52
Interiors, French, in
Interiors of
New
Hangings, 34-35, 229, 258-263 Hangings, see also Curtains
Italian influence in
Henry VIII
period,
176
Italian influence in
Harmonious forms, 66 Harmonious furnishing, 246
modern America, 222
Italian Renaissance, 127, 132

Italian Renaissance chairs, 36
Harmony Harmony Harmony Harmony
in decoration, 18 in picture selection,

is
252
Italian Renaissance furniture, 36, 57, 69
beauty, 241
of colours,
43-48
Jacobean period inspired Colonial, 181 Jacobean period,

see also Stuart period
Heirlooms, Tasteless, 230

Hellenic, see
Greek
James
I period, Restraint of,
180
255
Henry II period, 136-137 Henry IV period, 137-141 Henry VII, Architecture of, 174 Henry VIII and his period, 172, 173, 176 Hepplewhite's style and ideals, 199-203
Historic background of Colonial, 207
Japanese occult balance, 83 Japanese prints, Frames

Japanese
size feeling, 71
for,
Japanese restraint in picture, 253
Keying a
colour, 29-31
Historic background of English art, 171

Historic periods in art, 55, 117-130
Lace curtains, 34-35

Lafayette, Marquis de, 213
History expressed in art, 51, 118 Holbein portraits, 178
Lamps and lamp
shades, 267-268
Home
House
idea in England, 174

furnishing,
Modern, 225-237
Landlords without taste, 232 La Valliere, Madame de, 147
House, The modern American, 272 Houses not museums, 3
Lavender,
see
Lemon,
see
Purple Yellow
Hue, a colour quality, 27-31 Huguenots, The, 138, 146 Humanistic influence, 126
Ideal Proportion, The, 73
Leonardo's statement of proportion, 73 Light and colour, 20

Light-giving colours, 48-49
Lighting arrangements, 266-269 Lighting conditions, 244

Lilac, see Purple
Inconsistency, 100 Indirect lighting system, The, 267
Individualism in decoration, 238-250 Individualism in England, 196

Individual's colour needs, The, 47
Line harmony, 57 Line simplification, 61

Lines in good composition, 65 Lines in rugs, 70
280
INDEX
Little Trianon, 165-166
Moderation in Greek
art,
122
110 146
Living-rooms, 6
Modern
house, The, 225-237
London smoke,
see Purple Louis XII, forerunner of French Renaissance, 132
Mohammedan ornament, Montespan, Madame de,

Motif
scales,
113
Louis XIII, Period Louis XIV, 119 Louis

Louis Louis Louis Louis
of, 142,
144
Motif badly combined, 112 Motifs good and bad, 111

Motifs: musical, literary and decorative, 107
XIV period, 119, 145-153 XIV rhythm, 100
XV furniture, 57, 69 XV period, The, 156-164 XV period and occult arrangeof,
Motifs of Louis XIV, 150 Motifs on gilt picture frames, 254 Motifs, Restraint in use of, 113
ment, 83 Louis XV, Personality and court Louis XVI chairs, 69

Louis
157
Mouldings of picture frames, 255 Mount Vemon, 213
Movement, 90-93, 96
XVI
period, 164-169
Museum
Louis XVI, Personality of, 165 Louis XVI style influences Colonial, 213
Louvre, The, 149 Luminosity in colour, 48-49
house, The, 3 Musical symbols, 17
National feeling and colour, 52-55 Naturalism, Decadent, 141

Naturalism, Hellenic and humanistic, 126
Magna
Charta, 173
of, 32, 189,
Mahogany, Use
Maintenon,
191
Naturalism not
art, 11,
108
Madame
de, 147
Naturalistic motifs, 161
Marble-topped tables, 217 Margins, Book-page, 76 Marie Antoinette, 165-166, 213 Marie de Medici, 138-140
Naturalistic ornament, 109
Nature copying, 11 Needlework of Queen Anne period, 192

Neutral tones, 27
Neutralization of colours, 38-39, 46
"Masculine"
colours, 54
Materialism of Louis
XV period,
156
Materials and patterns, 11
New England Puritans, 207-211 New Renaissance in America, 222

Non-bisymmetric arrangement, 159
Matted Mauve,
pictures, 36, 255-256
Mazarin, Cardinal, 145

Purple Medicis, The, see Catherine de Medici, and Marie de Medici
see
"Normal
colour,"
Meaning
of,
27
Northern Colonial, 208 Northern house, The, 243

Oblique
lines,
Mediums, Harmony
in picture, 252
91
Meeting-houses of New England, 208 Middle Colonial, 212

Military formality of Louis 152
Mirrors, Colonial, 215
Oblongs and squares, 66 Occult balance, 82-86, 159

Orange, 25 Orange, see also Binary colours Oriental rugs, 35-36
Oriental rugs, see also Orientation, Problems
XIV period,
Mirrors,
Queen Anne, 192

style,
Hugs
of,
Mission
70
242
281
INDEX
Ornament, Abstract, 110 Ornament must suit material, 11
Puritans of
New
England,
see
New
Ornament
of Louis
XVI, 167
England Puritans Purple, 26-27

Purple, see also Binary colours
Ornament, Restraint in, 270 Ornamentation and decoration, 10

Oval curves, 65
Painted woodwork, 264 Paintings not art, 15
Queen Anne
period, 186
New England, The, 214 Pattern must suit material, 11 Period copyists, 235
Parlours of
"Period" defined, 119

Period pictures in period rooms, 252 Periods, How to study, 119-120, 128-
Red, 23-24 Red, see also Primary colours Regency period, The, 154 Religious art impulse, The, 120 Renaissance chairs, 36 Renaissance, French, 128, 131-153
Renaissance influence, 11
Renaissance, Italian, 127, 132 Renaissance, see also New Renaissance
Restfulness, 79, 81, 90-93
130
Periods in general, 117-130 Periods of English art, 175
Periods,
Restraint of James I period, 181
The
three stages
of,
135
Rhythm
in Louis
XIV period,
100
Personality in decoration, 238-250 Petit Trianon, see Little Trianon
Richelieu, Cardinal, 143, 145

Rocaille, 150, 160
Photographs and personality, 250 Photographs, Frames for, 255

Piano placing, 87
Picture composition, 95 Picture frames, 253-256
Rococo, 150, 155
Roof
design, Italian, 101
Roses, Experiments with, 108 Roses on the walls, 112
Picture hanging, 62-63, 93, 256-258 Picture language, 17

Picture mats, 36
Rubens, Paintings Rug colours, 30
of,
140
Rug Rug
design, 10, 94
placing, 59
Picture mediums,
Harmony
in,
252
Rugs, 33-34, 42
Picture placing, 66-67, 68, 257 Pictures in decorating, 251-258
Rugs, Importance of, 229 Rugs, Lines in, 70
Pigments, 21
Political art impulse,
Rugs
The, 121
de, 157
of black
walnut period, 218
Rugs,
Scale,
see also Carpets, Oriental rugs
Pompadour,
Madame
Portiere hanging, 11
Portieres, see also Hangings, Curtains
Portraits, Elizabethan, 178
Importance
of,
247
Scale in motifs, 113 Scale interpreted, 97

Scroll motif, Italian,
Pottery of the regency, 156 Pottery, Old Chinese, 269
150
see
Second Renaissance,
sance
New
Renaih.
Primary
colours, 21-25
Printed linen of Louis
XV, 162
See-saw and occult balance, 84

Senses, The,
Proportion in High Greek period, 99 Puritan influence on Tudor period, 185
and consciousness, 103
Sensuousness of Louis
XV period,
150
282
INDEX
Sentimental furnishings,
Separatists, 181, 206
7,
230
Textures, Balance
of,
90
27 27
Theatres, Elizabethan, 179
"Shade," Meaning of, 27 Shades for lamps, 268 Shell flowers, 109
Shell motif, 150
"Tint," Meaning
of, of,
"Tone," Meaning
Transitional styles, 186
Sheraton, Style and work

Size balance, 90
of,
202-204
"Triad scheme" of colour harmony, 47 Trim and wall colourings, 32

Trim, Treatment of the, 265 Tudor furniture, 182
Size consistency, 71
Size contrast, 74
Social idea
and
art,
121
Sound and colour analogies, 19 Sound symbols, 17

Southern Colonial style, 211-212 Southern house, The, 242 Spanish colour feeling, 52
Steelyards and occult balance, 84
Straight-line furniture, 69
Tudor Tudor Tudor
interiors,
183
see
period, 175-179 period,

also
Elizabethan
period
Twisted wood, Flemish, 182
Unity in decoration, 272 Upholstery, Colour of, 30
Use and beauty, 8

Value, a colour quality, 31-37 Value scale, A, 31
Straight lines, 64 Structural lines important, 16
Structure determines form, 57
Stuart period, 180-185 Stuart period, see also Jacobean
Varnished furniture, 265 Vases and flowers, 271

Vegetable patterns, 11 Versailles, Court of, 146
Versailles, Palace at, 148, 166
Table design, 100-102

Table,
Rug and
cloth for, 71
II period, 136
Tapestries, 111
Vertical oblongs, 66, 74
Tapestries of
Henry
Victorian era,
see
also
Black walnut
Tapestries of Louis
XV period,
of,
162
period
Vinci's rule of proportion, 73
Violet, see Purple
Tapestry placing, 68 Tapestry, see also Needlework

Taste, Development
Taste, see also
226
Wall, ceiling and
floor,
Taste in arrangement, 11
Law
for,
33
Bad
taste
Tasteful furnishings not costly, 228 Tasteless articles, Disposal of, 231
Tasteless articles in shops, 233
Temperament and
Textiles of
colour, 29
Textiles, Elizabethan, 179
Textiles of Louis
Henry H, 136 XVI, 168
Wall colour, 30 Wall decorative principles, 61 Wall spacing, 68 Wall paper, Choice of, 245 Wall paper experiments, 41-42, 91-92 Wall paper, Flowered, 9 Wall paper, Unrestful, 94 Walls and occult balance, 85-86
Textiles of the regency, 156
Tudor, 184 Textures, 103-107

Textiles,
Warm Warm
colours, 29
tones, 50-51
Washington, George, 213
283
INDEX
Water
colours.
Frames
for,
255
Women and
133-134
the French Renaissance,
Wax
flowers, 109
White, Stanford, 124 White, a "neutral," 27

William the Conqueror, 172 William the Stadtholder, 187
Wood carving of Henry II period,

Wooden
furniture,
136
Treatment
of,
265
Window dressing, 40 Window hangings, 11 Window placing, 59 Women, A style for, 146, 147
Woodwork, Colonial, 215-216 Woodwork, Treatment of, 263-265 Wren, Sir Christopher, 193
Yellow, 22-23 Yellow, see also Primary colours
284
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INTERIOR DECORATION

FRANK ALVAH PARSONS,

NEW TOBK SCHOOL OF

FINE AND APPLIED ART

DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY

DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO MY FRIEND WILLIAM M. ODOM WHOSE LOYAL AND

SYMPATHETIC COOPERATION HAS DONE MUCH TO CRYSTALLIZE ITS CONTENTS

exists at the present

but the externalized man; himself ex-

The periods, too, have been treated

and admiration for ornamental show, that the Baroque

the only one generally considered as decorative

his ideal of interior decoration.

When, Where, and

Colour and Its Relation to the Decorative Idea

Form and Their

the Decorative Idea

Emphasis and Unity

and Textures as They Relate to

Furnishing and Decorating

Historic Art Periods and the Ideas

The French Renaissance and the French

The Regency and the Periods

The Tudor Period The English

The Stuart Period and

Influence, or the Period of

dale, Hepplewhite, Sheraton,

The Modern House The

The Proper Use

in Strengthof Beautifying the Architectural Effects of

Stairway and Windows

The Wrong Use

Ornament Applying Without PurEmphasis by

Over-emphasis of the Top by

A Console Table, Good in Proportion A Commode

Wall Decoration and

A Descriptive Colour Chart A Modern Library Whose Walls

and Ceiling are Class24

Their Type A Historic Room in the Style of Louis XVI

Historic Room in French Style Elevation Sketch in Black, White and

Rhythmic Movement Through9% 94 $6

out the Pattern

ground Spacings Simple Side Wall Elevation, Expressing Good Scale

Painting Where the Appeal

Sentiment Later Tapestry in Which the Humanistic Ideal Is

A Beautiful Room in the Period of Louis XV

A Colonial Hall, Expressing the Qualities of Simplicity,

208 226 226

Simple Bedroom Suitable for Guest's Chamber in

A Delightfully Simple Modern Bedroom with Feminine

A Modern Living-room A Modern Library Whose A

decorative idea for which

paints pictures merely.

mean a man who

may have a sensitive appreciation ever combination they may appear.

but also that in what-

We find among these a lack of the remotest conception

further from the truth.

or expensive objects, the

something to decorate. form or arrangement

WHEN, WHERE, AND HOW TO DECORATE

This matter of function